Research paper , Topics: Racial Justice

Running head: DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN SPECIAL 1

Dropout Rates of African American Males in Special Education

Jane Doe

Sam Houston State University

DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN SPECIAL 2

Synopsis

There is extensive research on the topic of dropout rates of students in the United States.

This research shows an historical impact of how African Americans are overrepresented in

special education programs and have high dropout rates. As the research will establish, there are

many reasons cited for dropping out with negative consequences rippling across this growing

population. Empirical studies define reasons for dropping out, estimate dropout rates with ever

increasing precision, and examining the correlates of dropping out, including race,

socioeconomic status (SES), and school’s performance.

Abstract

Educational Attainment, while highly valued, is in short supply among African

Americans. Overrepresentations of African Americans are much more prevalent and are more

pervasive with a well documented history of oppression and discrimination that have

characterized race relations in American history (Skiba, Simmons, Ritter, Gibb, Rausch,

Cuadrado, & Chung, Spring 2008). The purpose of this study is to examine dropout rates of

African American males in special education settings. More specifically, this study will examine

the relationship of gender, educational placement and dropout rates of students in high school.

The population of this study consists of elementary and secondary students across the nation

enrolled in public schools. The study will use Ad Hoc data compiled from the Composition

Index (CI), the Risk Index (RI), and Relative Risk Ratio. The findings of this study revealed that

there is a significant correlation between race and gender for educational placement in special

education. Further, the findings revealed that there is also a significant between race and gender

and high school dropout rates.

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Introduction

Educational Attainment, while highly valued, is in short supply among African

Americans. More specifically, African American males are disproportionately placed in special

education and labeled mentally challenged at higher rates than their White, non-Hispanic

counterparts. In contrast to special education, African American males are placed in advanced

placement and identified gifted/ talented at one-sixth as often as White non-Hispanic males in the

greater Houston area. Research supports that this is not a new phenomenon. Historically, special

education was created from the efforts of the Civil Rights movement. Concerns of racial

inequality led to litigation that brought about the first special education legislation. Because of

this unique tie to the Civil Rights movement, it is very ironic that there are racial disparities in

the placement of minorities in special education settings (Skiba, et al., Spring 2008).

Overrepresentations of African Americans are much more prevalent and are more

pervasive with a well documented history of oppression and discrimination that have

characterized race relations in American history. Mental testing was conducted in the early 20th

century with the premise that races other than northern European descendents were considered to

be intellectually inferior, thus leading to the vigorous segregation of the African American

population from the mainstream population. From Reconstruction to the 1950s, the prevailing

perception was that education for African Americans was not intended for the population to gain

equal access. Instead, the educational system was designed to train and educate African

Americans for lower ranking positions that they were assumed to be more suited to occupy

(Jackson & Wiedman, 2006). More than fifty years after Brown vs. the Board of Education, the

disparity continues with some cities seeing high dropout rates of half or more. Recognition of

the importance of the high school system in America to the economic and social well being of

DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN SPECIAL 4

the nation has been building for the past decade. Since the 1990s, there has been a growth in

public and private investment to improve the nation’s schools. Many studies, conferences and

reports have increased the awareness and are pushing for a reform of the education system.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to examine dropout rates of African American males in

special education settings. More specifically, this study will examine the relationship of gender,

educational placement and dropout rates of students in high school.

Review of Literature

Throughout history, disproportionality of minority placement in special education has

been well documented. It has been defined as “the representation of a group in a category that

exceeds our expectations for that group, or differs substantially from the representation of others

in that category”(Skiba et al., Spring 2008, p. 266). African American students make up the

largest placement population in special education and this racial group leads dropout rates in

almost every state (See Figure 1). Further, these students are more likely to attend a Title I

school where more than seventy-five percent of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Moreover, they are less likely to graduate from high school, which attributes to lower college

entrance rates than any other racial group.

The National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE, 2002) have been advocating

on the behalf of African Americans students to ensure there is equal representation and

appropriate educational opportunities afforded to learn in special and general education

programs. In NABSE’s report of addressing overrepresentation, data revealed that during the

1998-99 academic year African American students were “2.9 times more likely as White

students to be labeled mentally retarded (MR), 1.9 times as likely to be labeled emotionally

DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN SPECIAL 5

disturbed (ED) and 1.3 times as likely to be labeled as learning disabled (LD)” (pg 5).

Moreover, the report revealed as the students were identified by the special education committee,

they were less likely than their White counterparts to return to regular education placement once

they entered special education. In 2000, the Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation

of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act revealed that African American youth ages six

through twenty one years of age account for 14.8 of the general population. The disparity is

revealed by this population representing 20.2 percent of the special education population

(NABSE, 2002).

Donovan & Cross’s (2002) study supports these findings by revealing African American

students are more likely to be overrepresented in the categories of ED and mentally challenged

MR as well as special education services overall. Parish opines that the representation is greater

in the soft disability areas, such as LD, MR or ED where a medical diagnosis is not needed. In

these cases, school counselor and teacher perception of student’s behavior is the guide in

referring students to special education.

Understanding the culture of the students being taught is imperative to the well being of

the student to provide an atmosphere of successful environment of academic achievement.

African American student’s culturally based behaviors. This has been found to be true with high

percentages of White teachers working in majority minority schools. However, as more African

American teachers and staff increase, the number of African American students placed into

special education decreases. Darling-Hammond (2004) indicate that students from low

socioeconomic status groups and students of color are more likely to be taught by teachers with

less or no experience in poorly funded schools that have a hard time hiring and retaining

minority teachers.

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Skiba, et al. (Spring 2006) tested the proportionality of African American students placed

in more or less restrictive settings within five disability categories. Of the five disability

categories, African American students were more likely to be placed in more restrictive settings

that their White, non-Hispanic counterparts in four disability categories.

Greene’s (2006) findings parallel NABSE in that the findings revealed only seventy

percent of the 2003 class graduated. There continues to be a gap between graduation rates of

African American and White, non-Hispanic students with African American students graduating

55%. The study also revealed there is a widening gender gap of graduation rates among African

Americans. Class of 2003 African American females had 59% graduation rate while African

American males saw only 48% earned a diploma. This is a difference of eleven percentage

points. In contrast, the graduation rate for White, non-Hispanic students for the class of 2003 was

78%.

With the research provided to substantiate high percentages of African American males

in special education, the question begs to be asked is why are so many African American

students are grossly overrepresented in this population? NABSE (2002) identified possible

causes as a lack of resources and well trained teachers, minimal or no access to effective

instruction in general education programs, misidentification and/or the misuse of testing

instrumentation, inequities in the referral and placement procedures associated with special

education and failure of the educational system to be culturally sensitive and educate children

from diverse backgrounds.

Surprisingly, the counseling community has been relatively silent in the debate even

though there is a substantial amount of research to generate great cause for concern. Currently,

there is no answer as to why there is an overrepresentation of African Americans in special

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education settings; however there are possible explanations to explain the phenomena.

Weinstein, Tomlinson-Clark & Curran (2004) opine that White teachers may have fear of

African American male students. In contrast to the growing minority student population,

predominately white female teachers are more likely to be teaching minority students. To widen

the gap, many of these teachers come from middle class neighborhoods and were educated in

predominately White colleges/universities. In many instances, the institution’s teacher education

program does not adequately prepare individuals for the reality of racial imbalance between

minority students and White, non-Hispanic teachers.

How we think about African Americans, African American males in particular, affects

how we respond to them. Johnson (2006) explained that there are many negative stereotypes that

portray young African American males as being lazy, incompetent, loud, drug addicted juvenile

offenders who spend most of their life being unemployed or incarcerated. Research has been

established that teachers make their decisions for referrals based on whether a child is non-

threatening or “teachable.”

Another plausible answer to the problem is the subjective and unreliable procedures

associated with placement of African American males in special education. Teacher referrals and

educational testing are the two primary measures to determine if a student is in need of special

education services. Both of these measures pose significant problems because of their lack of

reliability. There is a prevalent belief that pejorative referrals and misdiagnosis occurs more in

the softer categories of special education classification. Mainly it is because these categories do

not require verifiable biological criteria such as hearing loss and vision impairment. There are

two types of tests used in the assessment and diagnosis of behavioral or learning disabilities that

include intelligence tests and behavioral assessments (Johnson, 2006).

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Research Method

The population of this study consists of elementary and secondary students across the

nation enrolled in public schools. The study will use Ad Hoc and Ex Post Facto data compiled

from the Composition Index (CI), the Risk Index (RI), and Relative Risk Ratio. It has been

determined that the most intuitive method of measurement for disproportionality is the

Composition Index. The Risk Index is the proportion of a given group served in a given category

and represents the best estimate of risk for that outcome in that group. This measurement

compares the proportion of individuals placed in special education with the total population of an

ethnic group that represents in the population. Data collected at different levels of aggregation

(school, agency, and state) are provided by officials in each area. Since it is understood that local

education staff have already provided information to SEA officials in conjunction with

established administrative records systems, U.S. Department of Education staff do not contact

local personnel to verify data except in unusual circumstances. Edits are performed by survey

staff and referred to state education agency (SEA) respondents for resolution. It is Common Core

Data policy to accept the judgment of the respondent unless there is a clear conflict or

unacceptable inconsistency.

Data Collection and Analysis

The data was compiled by the National Center for Educational Statistics utilizing survey

instrumentation. The Public Elementary/ Secondary School Universe file includes data for the

following variables: NCES school ID number, state school ID number, name of the school, name

of the agency that operates the school, mailing address, physical location address, phone number,

school type, operational status, locale code, latitude, longitude, county number, county name,

full-time- equivalent (FTE) classroom teacher count, low/high grade span offered, Congressional

DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN SPECIAL 9

district code, school level, free lunch eligible students, reduced-price lunch eligible students,

total free and reduced-price lunch eligible, migrant students enrolled in the previous year, student

totals and detail (by grade, by race/ethnicity, and by gender), and pupil/teacher ratio. The file

also contains flags indicating whether a school is Title I eligible, school wide Title I eligible, a

magnet school, a charter school, and/or a shared time school.

Findings

The findings of this study revealed that there is a significant correlation between race and

gender for educational placement in special education. Further, the findings revealed that there

is also a significant between race and gender and high school dropout rates. In the 2006-07

academic years, approximately 16 percent of the total elementary and secondary public school

population was enrolled in high poverty schools. Thirty three percent of African American

students as compared to four percent of White students attended high poverty schools.

In the academic year of 2005-06, less than half of all African American male students

received their diploma with their graduating class. Findings further reveal that the rate African

American males are dropping out or being placed in special education are significantly higher

than the rate they are graduating. Graduation rates for this population during this academic year

were ranked at forty-seven percent. Almost half of the nation’s African American population

attends high schools where graduation rates are ranked among the lowest. There currently are

between nine hundred and one thousand high schools in the country where graduation percentages are a

fifty/fifty split. In comparison, only eleven percent of White, non-Hispanic students attend low

graduating high schools.

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Discussion

One of the most significant findings of this study was the correlation between race and

gender for education placement of high school students in special education. These findings are

consistent with those of Skiba, et al. (2008), Weinstein, et al. (2004) and NABSE (2002).The

aforementioned researchers reported that African American male students were more likely to be

overrepresented in special education populations. A plausible explanation for this finding may be

attributed to the referral and testing practices used by teachers and counselors in the educational

setting.

Another notable finding of this study pertained to a significant relationship between race

and gender and high school dropout rates. Ethnicity was found to be significantly related to high

school dropout. This finding corresponds with Darling-Hammond (2004), Donavan & Cross

(2002), Johnson (2006) and Greene (2006). These researchers found a significant relationship

between ethnicity and dropout among high school students. A subjective explanation for this

finding for this area might be that African American students, more than their White, non-

Hispanic counterparts, have limited access to educational resources and lack of cultural

sensitivity in the educational community.

DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN SPECIAL 11

State By State Graduation Rates for Black Male Students

Figure 1

Schott Foundation for Public Education 50 State Report male data portal

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References

Darling-Hammond, L. (2004). Inequity and the right to learn: Access to qualified teachers in

California’s public schools.. Teachers College Record, 106(10), 1936-1966.

Donovan, M., & Cross, C. (2002). Minority students in special and gifted education.

Washington, DC: National Academic Press.

Greene, J. (2006). Leaving boys behind: Public high school graduation rates. Civic Report, 48.

Retrieved from http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_48.htm

Jackson, J., & Weidman, P. (2006). Race, racism and science: Social impact and interaction.

New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Johnson, P. (2006). Counseling African American men: A contextualized humanistic

perspective. Counseling and Values, 50(3), 187-196..

National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) & ILIAD Project. (2002). Addressing

overrepresentation of African-American students in special education. Washington, DC:

U.S. Government Printing Office.

Schott Foundation for Public Education. (2008). Given half a chance: The Schott 50 state report

on public education and Black males (Fact Sheet). Retrieved from The Schott Foundation

for Public Education: http://blackboysreport.org/node/13

Skiba, R., Simmons, A., Ritter, S., Gibb, A., Rausch, M., Cuadrado, J., & Chung, C. (Spring

2008). Achieving equity in special education: History, status and current challenges.

Council for Exceptional Children, 74 (3), 264-288.

Weinstein, C., Tomlinson-Clark, S., & Curran, M. (2004). Toward a conception of culturally

responsive classroom management. Journal of Teacher Education, 55, 25-40. Retrieved

from www.jsc.montana.edu/articles/v4n16.pdf