Are Hispanic, Asian, Native American, or Language-Minority Children Overrepresented in Special Education?

Students of different races, ethnicities, religions, and genders should always be identified, evaluated and placed in their proper least restrictive environment. In Special Education many Hispanic, Asian, Native American, or Language-Minority children are being overlapped and overrepresented in the special education classrooms.

The study’s purpose was to find out are Hispanics, Asian, Native American, ELL and Language Minority are being overlapped and overrepresented. The Researchers used four electronic databases in their research and the collection of data. Researchers also used over 77 studies. All of the researched used in this study were published from January 1, 1998, to September 30, 2015.

Research found in the best-evidence studies showed that there was no evidence of overrepresentation attributable to systemic bias based on race or ethnicity. However, through the 77 studies it did show small numbers of overrepresentation of Hispanic, ELL and Language Minority students.

Furthermore, the disproportionate representation attributable to race, ethnicity, or language use strictly depends on the relative rigor of covariate adjustment that is being used through the studies. Analyzes of future research for individual-level data and control for individual confounds and academic achievement should better approximate contrast between similar children (Morgan et al., 2015, 2017). The U.S. Department of Education OCR believes that these tools are needed to establish whether schools are misidentifying children as having disabilities based on their race, ethnicity, or national origin (2016). By doing this, it would provide a stronger evidence base of whether systemic biases resulting from discriminatory practices are occurring in special education (NRC, 2004).

Critique

As a special education teacher in the middle school setting, this article was enlightening and informational. All over the United States and throughout other countries there are students of different races, ethnicities, and language-minority students who are overrepresented in special education. However, there are also those individuals who are also placed in special education classes because they are English Second Language barrier.

English language Learners and English Second Learners barriers happen a lot more in the pre-school and early elementary school settings because schools and teachers are not able to close the gap between the student first native language and their second language. In most cases, those students are only speaking their native language at home and only practicing English at school.

I enjoyed this article because it mentions not only mention the research and the findings. It also mentions School-to-Community outreach programs that help address different cultural and language barriers. Assessments such as Universal screening can help all students as well as teachers, administers, and communities identify racial disparities in gifted programs and special education, as well as IDEA’s Child, Finds requirements.

The findings and results of the study were 29 of the 504 regression models indicated overrepresentation. More specifically, 6 out of the 91 of the estimates indicated statistically significant overrepresentation for children who are Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and ELL or Language minorities. The best evidence students showed that analyzed individual-level data from nationally representative samples showed no evidence of overrepresentation attributable to systemic bias based on race or ethnicity.

The analyses table diagram is one thing in the article that I would have done differently. The article showed the study purpose, methods, discussion and results of the article. The analyses table indicated estimates of racial-ethnic or language-minority group and types of data analyzed. It was categorized by did not control for individual-level academics and controlled for individual-level academics. However, it was hard to follow.

References

Albrecht, S.F., Skiba, R. J., Losen, D. J., Chung, C. G., & Middelberg, L. (2012). Federal policy on disproportionality in special education Is it moving us forward? Journal of disability Policy Studies, 23, 14-25. doi:10.11044207311407917
Donovan, S., & Cross, C.T. (Eds.). (2002). Minority students in special and gifted education. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
MacMillan, D. L., & Reschly, D. J. (1998). Overrepresentation of minority students: The case for greater specificity or reconsideration of the variables examined. The Journal of Special Education, 32, 15-24. doi:10.1177/002246699803200103,
Morgan, P. L., Farkas, G., Cook, M., Strassfeld, N. M., Hillemeier, M. M., Pun, W. H., & Schussler, D. L. (2017). Are Black children disproportionately overrepresented in special education? A best-evidence synthesis. Exeptional Children, 83, 181-198. doi: org/10.1177/001440291666404042
Morgan, P. L., Farkas, G., Hillemeier, M., Mattison, R., Li, H., & Cook, M. (2015). Minorities are disproportionately under-represented in special education: Longitudinal evidence across five disability conditions. Educational Researcher, 44, 278-292. doi: 10.3102/0013189X15591157
National Research Council. (2004). Measuring racial Discrimination. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. (2016). Prevention racial discrimination in special education. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201612-racdisc-special- education.pdf

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