DQ 7

Disproportionality continues to occur among racial and ethnic minority groups of students when qualifying them for special education services. Devise a plan that would monitor this process to ensure compliance with IDEA.

REPLY TO DISCUSSION

1 . Maren

Having systematic bias most likely means that the system needs to be adjusted and improved. For those professionals who frequently use these systems and processes, it is important that they look for those missing parts or loopholes that prevent equality. Practitioners need to ensure that the disability and identification procedures that their school uses are considered culturally responsive, especially when it comes to the developmental concerns that minority families might have about their children (Morgan et al., 2020).  One suggestion that could help with this issue is expanding the use of universal screening. Limiting the special education system’s reliance on parent or teacher referral by using universal screening will help address the racial disparities in identification (2020). 

Another step that I would take to help support this issue is making sure that families are better informed about their rights and help them be properly informed about what their child’s disability classification really means. Minority families lack full access to scientifically based information about disabilities and have reported the desire to have greater access to such information (2020). Providing parents with better information might give professionals a better understanding of what students really need.

Morgan, P. L., Woods, A. D., Wang, Y., Hillemeier, M. M., Farkas, G., & Mitchell, C. (2020). Are schools in the U.S. south using special education to segregate students by race? Exceptional Children, 86(3), 255–275.  https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/0014402919868486

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2. Lynnel

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Replies to Maren Miller

Maren,

Families of children are important in the entire school process especially when there are barriers in which families face. As a school district it is crucial that all families understand their rights as parents and especially when it comes to their children and education. I have a great example of a student that couldn't participate in any of the holiday assemblies and work that was being done in a classroom. Each time it would get close to doing something fun for the holidays, the student would start to act out and want to be send to the office, instead of having that conversation and collaboration with parents the principal sat this student in her office each time these behaviors occured around the holidays. It took me one phone call to let the parents know what was happening and they explained that in their household they were not celebrating these hoidays and that he could do something differently. After speaking with the student, we made a plan for him to help other classes out during these times and his behaviors disappeared. All it took was speaking to his family and understanding their cultural differences.

Therefore, we must ensure that educators understand the importance of collaboration with all families even if there are language differences. We must continue to send home information in their native language and provide community supports (Housel, 2020). It may take some more of our time to reach out and understand each family but it is so important to the sucess of our students. Collaboration with others in our school can help to support families as well.

Thank you for your insights!

Housel, D. A. (2020). Supporting the engagement and participation of multicultural, multilingual immigrant families in public education in the United States: Some practical strategies. School Community Journal, 30(2), 185–209.

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3. Baptiste

Greetings Dr. Tate and Cohort,

The topic of disproportional representation among racial and ethnic minority students in special education is an interesting topic. Some research states racial and ethnic minority students receiving behavioral health and special education services are consistently overrepresented in settings separate from general classrooms and once separated struggle to improve academically and face significant difficulty upon returning to general education settings (NeMoyer et al., 2020). Other research claims racial or ethnic minority children were consistently less likely than White children to be identified as having disabilities (Morgan et al., 2017). Growing concerns that U.S. schools are misidentifying children as disabled based on their race or ethnicity have generated Federal legislation and policy seeking to address any potential minority overrepresentation in special education however, validity and to what extent minority overrepresentation is occurring is currently in dispute (Morgan et al., 2017). Morgan et al. (2017) research reviewed racial disparities in disability identification using large student nationally representative data sets (Ns = 183,570, 165,540, and 48,560) and tabulations of percentage with a disability among racial or ethnic groups across academic achievement deciles. Among children who were similar in social-economic statuses, academic ability, English language learner status, poverty exposure, and racial or ethnicity similarities were regularly less likely than White children to be identified as students with needs (Morgan et al., 2017). Research indicates that racial and ethnic minority children are considerably less likely than similarly White children to receive special education services (Morgan et al., 2017). It may be possible and conflicting with the popular belief that minority children have been less likely to receive special education services.

References

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. Exceptional Children, 83(2), 181–198.

Morgan, P. L., Farkas, G., Hillemeier, M. M., & Maczuga, S. (2017). Replicated evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in disability identification in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 46(6), 305–322.

NeMoyer, A., Nakash, O., Fukuda, M., Rosenthal, J., Mention, N., Chambers, V. A., Delman, D., Perez, G., Green, J. G., Trickett, E., & Alegría, M. (2020). Gathering diverse perspectives to tackle “Wicked problems”: Racial/ethnic disproportionality in educational placement. American Journal of Community Psychology, 65(1/2), 44–62.

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4. Afreeka

Replies to Maren Miller

Nowadays schools are showing an increased number of ethnic, or minority students enrolled in special education than they should be, based on the statistical standards (Bottiani et al., 2018). Research indicates that this signals the possibility that some of the students may not be truly disabled and may have been incorrectly identified (Voulgarides, Fergus & Thorius. 2017). In realizing that observations gathered from teachers and other information, such as, discipline reports, adds to the evidence that teacher and administration beliefs and expectations of students, based on race, is another component of disproportionate outcomes. This is a problem because it fuels negative stereotypes regarding minority groups, result in lowered expectations among teachers, parents, and the students themselves, and prevent children from reaching their academic potential.

 Barrio (2021) proposes that Response to Intervention (RTI) and Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), was thought to be designed to provide a more equitable system or framework to support students who may be labelled as struggling academically or behaviorally. But how does theses support systems recognize if their struggle is culturally based. Moore, Giles, Vitulli (2021) believes that to address disportionality there is a need for culturally responsive teaching (CRT). CRT is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students’ cultural references in all aspects of learning (Moore, Giles & Vitulli, 2021). Implementing cultural references allows all students, regardless of their gender, social class, and ethnic, racial, or cultural characteristics, have equal access to their academic environment where they can actively engage in their education (Banks, 2010). 

References

Barrio, B. L. (2021). Understanding culturally responsive practices in teacher preparation: an avenue to address disproportionality in special education. Teaching Education, 32(4), 437-456.  https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/10476210.2020.1796956 .

Bottiani, J. H., Bradshaw, C. P., Gregory, A., & Reschly, A. (2018). Nudging the gap: Introduction to the special issue "closing in on discipline disproportionality.” School Psychology Review, 47(2), 109-117.

Moore, A. L., Giles, R. M., & Vitulli, P. (2021) "Prepared to respond? Investigating preservice Ttachers’ perceptions of their readiness for culturally responsive teaching," International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 15(1), Article 10.  https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2021.150110 .

Voulgarides, C. K., Fergus, E. & Thorius, K. A. K. (2017). Pursuing equity: Disproportionality in special education and the reframing of technical solutions to address systemic inequities. Review of Research in Education, 41, 61–87. DOI: 10.3102/0091732X16686947.

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5. Lynnel

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Replies to Afreeka Wade

Afreeka,

I can not agree more about cultural differences and really putting an emphasis on the way children are taught at home through cultures. Ethics and cultures impact all students from all over the world and unless we know exaclty what we are dealing with then we can not assume that students are not learning. Having struggling students in our classroom does not mean that they need to be referred to special education but that we need to implement the RTI model with fidelity and collaborate with our families. Understanding differences within our families is imperative as we work towards the success of all students. We still deal with a lot of overidentification and underidentification of all students, so we must work harder to ensure that we are providing the correct supports where needed.

When looking at Puerto Rico and the United States, there are huge differences in identification of students in categories this goes to prove that cultural differences make an impact (Martinez-Torres & Camarata, 2022). Understanding cultural differences and having open discussions with families will help educators to understand how to support students. Our world is full of differences in which we must embrace and ensure that we are doing the best that we can possibly do. I have found it very helpful to get to know families in order to understand and respect cultural differences. What are some other strategies can we use to help reduce these gaps in understanding?

Thank you for your insights!

Martinez-Torres, K. A., & Camarata, S. (2022). Disability eligibility patterns in head start programs: A comparison of Puerto Rico and the United States. Inclusion, 10(2), 134–146. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1352/2326-6988-10.2.134

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6. Lynnel

Replies to Maren Miller

The disproportionality that occurs among racial and ethnic minority groups of students when qualifying them for special education services needs to be something that we really work towards. When students are qualified for special education based on low-income, situational changes in their household, or being treated differently based on race/ethnicity Ahram et al, 2021). We need to ensure that we are not qualifying students because it will harm them in the future when they are not being exposed to rigorous curriculum, having lower expectations and fewer opportunities when it comes to postsecondary education. Since IDEA has an exact evaluation process that districts must follow to determine eligibility, we must ensure that we are using these procedures.  

I took an amazing class on cultural differences in college, and it still hits home for me, several years later. We must be familiar with cultural differences or at least have someone within our district that has an expertise in this area. But once again it is imperative to have that collaboration with families in order to have their input and really listen to these families. We must treat every student separately and understand that every child is different, not all discipline is handled the same in every culture either so we must start with understanding and having an open mind (Bottiani et al, 2018).  

Ahram, R., Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C., & Cruz, R. A. (2021). Understanding disability: High-Quality evidence in research on special education disproportionality. Review of Research in Education, 45(1), 311–345. 

Bottiani, J. H., Bradshaw, C. P., Gregory, A., & Reschly, A. (2018). Nudging the gap: Introduction to the special issue "closing in on discipline disproportionality. School Psychology Review, 47(2), 109–117. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.17105/SPR-2018-0023.V47-2 

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7. Derycka

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Replies to Lynnel Campos

The disproportionality that occurs among racial and ethnic minority groups of students when qualifying them for special education services needs to be continuously addressed until eradicated. Disproportionality in special education has been going on for many years, especially for scholars of color. Cruz et al., (2021) demonstrates disproportionality as the degree to which group participation (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status) differentially impacts the probability of a result, such as exclusion from classroom learning opportunities. What has been seen and shown through research is that federal and state organizations have identified racial disproportionality in both special education placement and exclusionary discipline enactment as a significant problem (Cruz & et al., 2021). With this information that we have gain research has shown inconsistent findings concerning causes of disproportionality in special education. As an educator myself. I believe this all begins with ignorance, knowledge and many times individuals’ cultural backgrounds. As an African American educator, I have seen the “savor approach” from my white counterparts. Where their lack of cultural knowledge and appropriation has been them to label African American and or minority scholars incorrectly or at all. Education is key and without that ignorance will continue to spread.   

Reference

Cruz, R. A., Kulkarni, S. S., & Firestone, A. R. (2021). A QuantCrit Analysis of Context, Discipline, Special Education, and Disproportionality. AERA OPEN, 7.  https://doiorg.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/23328584211041354

Best,

8. Derycka Shirley-Clarke

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Consider this scenario:

An incident occurred in a middle school between two 7th-grade students (one a regular education student and the other a mainstreamed emotionally/behaviorally disabled student) in a math class.

Natalie and Jocelyn were involved in a fight during a math class. Jocelyn started the fight by hitting Natalie repeatedly upside her head, causing a big lump to form, because Natalie looked at her funny. Natalie had an opportunity to walk away, but decided to engage and knocked Jocelyn to the floor and proceeded to hit her repeatedly in response. The teacher tried to separate the two girls unsuccessfully. Security was called to intervene and break up the fight, which totally disrupted the learning experience for the other 25 students eager to learn about computational problem solving. Both students were taken to the 7th-grade administrator for disciplinary action.

Hypothesize a corrective action plan for these students.

 

9. Lynnel

It is imperative to ensure restorative practices are used with both students and for the students to understand the rules of the school when it comes to fighting. At the same time, it is important to ensure that the student with an emotional/behavior disability has the correct support in the IEP; ensuring that the IEP focuses on these goals and to be if there is a behavior intervention plan. Making sure that the behavior of the student with a disability has a determination of manifestation if necessary. Both students should be held accountable for their actions, but it is vital to understand the rights of the student with a disability; ensuring that no laws are being broken and the student has a fair chance. 

Restorative practices are imperative to incorporate into daily routines in classrooms in order to promote social skills and future successes (Forsberg & Leko, 2021). At my current school we use questions such as: 

What were you thinking of at the time? 

What have you thought about since? 

Who has been affected by what you have done? 

In what way have they been affected? 

What do you think you need to do to make things right? 

Although it has taken time for the entire staff to really trust this process, it has really shown improvement throughout our school culture. Students are starting to use this language and really listen and respect their peers.  

Does anyone else use restorative practices? 

 

Forsberg, M. L., & Leko, M. M. (2021). Improving relationships and student outcomes through restorative practices. INTERVENTION IN SCHOOL AND CLINIC. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/10534512211047589 

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RN