Disproportionality of Minorities in Schools...

I'm taking a class on Service Delivery, and we have to respond to the over-representation of minorities in the special education population.

I'm having trouble getting started on this - never really thought about it to be honest.

Do any of you have any thoughts on this to help jog my brain? The research says that minorities tend to be lumped into special education and they are not given the same services as their white counterparts. Any thoughts?

TIA!

Re: Disproportionality of Minorities in Schools...

IN my experience, I did not always find this to be true...

As a special educator, I find that sometimes whites are more represented in special ed. becuase sometimes those parents are more aggressive and/or educated about the special ed. process and really fight for their kids to get services, particularly when it comes to early intervention services.

On the other hand, the overall higher percentage of minorities in special ed. I think is due to a variety of factors.

1. English Language Learners (usually minorities): often they are labeled special ed. when they first enter the system....while really it's not that they are special ed. it's that they are just delayed with the language and haven't grasped true fluency (listening, processing, etc.) in English. they also present a problem on the other end... sometimes we miss the ELLs for special ed. because we think it's an ESL issue and then it's actually a special ed. issue

2. As we know, unfortunately, 12% of blacks and not sure of this exactly, but I believe about 33% of Latinos in this country live in poverty.... therefore, we can assume that for many of these children, they are not given early intervention services, early childhood programs like nursery school or Pre-K and often do not have access to books and other educational materials and developmentally appropriate toys.

3. Also, related to the comment above, parents in poverty are often uneducated and don't know how to help their children OR they are working 3 jobs and don't have time to appropriately play or read with their children OR they do not know English and the child has no exposure to the English language until school...

and also, i hate to say this... but so many schools (mainly urban schools) do not think kids in poverty are as capable as other students OR they do not help them successfully deal with the issues that cause them to do poorly (i.e. poor nutrition, lack of parental support, etc.)


okay, these are just my experiences, but i think there is some merit to them... i've done a lot of study in this area and in diversity education , so holer if you need more!

Message edited 8/10/2007 6:33:23 PM.

Re: Disproportionality of Minorities in Schools...

I know that when I was student teaching, I taught remedial social studies (9th grade.) There was a disproportionate amount of minority kids in my classes. I think a lot of it had to do with a language barrier. Even though most of the hispanic kids spoke perfect English, English wasn't spoken at home. I think they just didn't have the background language in what we were discussing, because they weren't exposed to it.

Sorry I can't be more of a help...

Re: Disproportionality of Minorities in Schools...

Re: Disproportionality of Minorities in Schools...

I agree with what karen said as well...and i will have to say that in my school there are more whites in spec ed than minorities.

Re: Disproportionality of Minorities in Schools...

Re: Disproportionality of Minorities in Schools...

Karen took all the ideas swirling in my head and said them much more clearly and eloquently.

I agree with it all.

Re: Disproportionality of Minorities in Schools...

Re: Disproportionality of Minorities in Schools...

well said Karen could not have said it better myself!!

I taught self contained for 3 years with the BOE. A lot of my students (from all different backgrounds- white included) have slim chances from the beginning. From being born addicted, put in foster care, taken out of foster care, living in a completely unstructured environment... I could go on and and on.

I will stick my neck out and say that a majority of my "ED" kids were really smart kids who became products of their environment. No structure, consistency or stability at home, coupled with whatever other underlying issues were going on. Some of my biggest tantrums were Friday afternoons, or days before vacations.

Re: Disproportionality of Minorities in Schools...

My district has been cited for the disproportionate number of minority students in sped.

Some ideas that pop into my mind as to why - We lack pre-referral/remedial programs and interventions that I think would help impoverished students (who in my district, tend to be more minority), ie: there is nothing else to really help these students except special ed.

Also, I think the assessments we use to identify learning and other problems in order to classify students are some what culturally biased against minorities.

Re: Disproportionality of Minorities in Schools...

Thank you SO much for your input, everyone!!!