Despite decades of research examining the disproportionate representation of racial minority students in special education, our understanding of the complexity of disproportionality remains incomplete and much of the previous research was designed without a clear theoretical framework. This exploratory study applied a structural theoretical lens as a means of understanding racial inequity in special education across analytical scales, racial groups, and disability categories. The findings confirm differential risk of educational disability across racial groups. Based on the theory adopted, several hypotheses were tested regarding the relations of relative risk to district structural features, with conflicting results found.
AnyonY. (2009). Sociological theories of learning disabilities: Understanding racial disproportionality in special education. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 19, 44-57.
4.
ArtilesA. J. (1998). The dilemma of difference: Enriching the disproportionality discourse with theory and context. Journal of Special Education, 32, 32-36.
5.
ArtilesA. J.RuedaR. (2002, March-April). General guidelines for monitoring minority overrepresentation in special education. CASE Newsletter, 43, 5-6. Retrieved from http://www.nccrest.org/PDFs/Artiles-Rueda.pdf
6.
ArtilesA. J.RuedaR.SalazarJ. J.HigaredaI. (2005). Within-group diversity in minority disproportionate representation: English language learners in urban school districts. Exceptional Children, 7, 283-300.
7.
BeratanG. D. (2008). The song remains the same: Transposition and the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education. Race Ethnicity and Education, 11, 337-354.
8.
BlanchettW. J. (2009). A retrospective examination of urban education: From Brown to resegregation of African Americans in special education—It is time to “go for broke.”Urban Education, 44, 370-388.
9.
BlanchettW. J.KlingnerJ. K.HarryB. (2009). The intersections of race, culture, language, and disability: Implications for urban education. Urban Education, 44, 389-409.
10.
BlanchettW. J.MumfordW.FloydB. (2005). Urban school failure and disproportionality in a post-Brown era: Benign neglect of the constitutional rights of students of color. Remedial and Special Education, 26, 70-81
11.
BollmerJ.BethelJ.Garrison-MogrenR.BrauenM. (2007). Using the risk ratio to assess racial/ethnic disproportionality in special education at the school-district level. Journal of Special Education, 41, 186-198.
12.
Bonilla-SilvaE. (1996). Rethinking racism: Toward a structural interpretation. American Sociological Review, 62, 465-480.
13.
CartledgeG. (2005). Restrictiveness and race in special education: The failure to prevent or return. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 3, 27-32.
14.
CohenJ.CohenP.WestS. G.AikenL. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
15.
ConyersJ. E. (2002). Racial inequality: Emphasis on explanations. Western Journal of Black Studies, 26, 249-254.
16.
CoutinhoM. J.OswaldD. P.BestA. M. (2002). The influence of sociodemographic and gender on the disproportionate identification of minority students as having learning disabilities. Remedial and Special Education, 23, 49-59.
DonovanM. S.CrossC. T. (Eds.). (2002). Minority students in special and gifted education. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
19.
EitleT. M. (2002). Special education or racial segregation: Understanding variation in the representation of Black students in educable mentally handicapped programs. Sociological Quarterly, 43, 575-605.
FinnJ. D. (1982). Patterns in special education placement as revealed by the OCR surveys. In HellerK. A.HoltzmanW. H.MessickS. (Eds.), Placing children in special education: A strategy for equity (pp. 322-381). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
22.
Fulbright-AndersonK.LawrenceK.SuttonS.SusiG.KubischA. (2005). Structural racism and youth development: Issues, challenges, and implications. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute.
23.
Gaviria-SotoJ. L.Castro-MoreraM. (2005). Beyond over-representation: The problem of bias in inclusion of minority group students in special education programs. Quality and Quantity, 39, 537-558.
24.
HofrichterR. (2004). Health and social justice: Politics, ideology, and inequity in the distribution of disease. Indianapolis, IN: Jossey-Bass.
25.
HospJ. L.ReschlyD. J. (2004). Disproportionate representation of minority students in special education: Academic, demographic, and economic predictors. Exceptional Children, 70, 185-199.
26.
JenkinsR. (1991). Disability and social stratification. British Journal of Sociology, 42, 557-580.
27.
JohnsonO. (2008). Ecology in educational theory: Thoughts on stratification, social mobility, and proximal capital. Urban Review, 40, 227-246.
28.
KozleskiE. B.SmithA. (2009). The complexities of systems change in creating equity for students with disabilities. Urban Education, 44, 427-451.
29.
LevinsonB.SuttonM.2001. Introduction: Policy as/in practice—A sociocultural approach to the study of educational policy. In SuttonM.LevinsonB. (Eds.), Policy as practice: Towards a comparative sociocultural analysis of educational policy (pp. 1-22). Westport, CT: Ablex.
30.
MacMillanD. L.ReschlyD. J. (1998). Overrepresentation of minority students: The case for greater specificity or reconsideration of the variables examined. Journal of Special Education, 32, 15-24.
31.
MacphersonW. (1999). The Stephen Lawrence inquiry. CM 4262–I. London, UK: HMSO.
32.
MeierK. J.StewartJ.EnglandR. E. (1989). Race, class, and education: The politics of second generation discrimination. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
33.
MironG.UrschelJ. L.MathisW. J.TornquistE. (2010). Schools without diversity: Education management organizations, charter schools and the demographic stratification of the American school system. Boulder, CO: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit.
34.
OakesJ.GuitonG. (1995). Matchmaking: The dynamics of high school tracking decisions. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 3-33.
35.
OmiM.WinantH. (1986). Racial formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1980s. New York, NY: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
36.
OswaldD. P.CoutinhoM. J.BestA. M. (2002). Community and social predictors of overrepresentation of minority children in special education. In LosenD. J.OrfieldG. (Eds.), Racial inequity in special education (pp. 1-13). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
37.
OswaldD. P.CoutinhoM. J.BestA. L.NguyenN. (2001). Impact of sociodemographic characteristics on the identification rates of minority students as having mental retardation. Mental Retardation, 39, 351-367.
38.
OswaldD. P.CoutinhoM. J.BestA. M.SinghN. N. (1999). Ethnic representation in special education: The influence of school-related economic and demographic variables. Journal of Special Education, 32, 194-206.
39.
ParrishT. (2002). Racial disparities in the identification, funding, and provision of special education. In LosenD. J.OrfieldG. (Eds.), Racial inequity in special education (pp. 15-38). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
40.
PolinardJ. L.WrinkleR. D.MeierK. J. (1995). The influence of educational and political resources on minority students’ success. Journal of Negro Education, 64, 463-474.
41.
ReidD. K.KnightM. G. (2006). History in the present: Disability as justification for educational exclusion of minority students. Educational Researcher, 35, 18-23.
42.
ReynoldsC. R.CarsonA. D. (2005). Methods for assessing cultural bias in tests. In FrisbyC. L.ReynoldsC. R. (Eds). Comprehensive handbook of multicultural school psychology (pp. 795-823). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
43.
RochaR. R.HawesD. P. (2009). Racial diversity, representative bureaucracy, and equity in multiracial school districts. Social Science Quarterly, 90, 326-343.
44.
SerwatkaT. S.DeeringS.GrantP. (1995). Disproportionate representation of African Americans in emotionally handicapped classes. Journal of Black Studies, 25, 492-506.
45.
SkibaR. J.KnestingK.BushL. D. (2002). Culturally competent assessment: More than nonbiased tests. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 11, 61-78.
46.
SkibaR. J.Poloni-StaudingerL.SimmonsA. B.Feggins-AzzizR.ChungC. (2005). Unproven links: Can poverty explain ethnic disproportionality in special education?Journal of Special Education, 39, 130-144.
47.
SkibaR. J.SimmonsA. B.RitterS.GibbA. C.RauchM. K.CuadradoJ.ChungC. (2008). Achieving equity in special education: History, status, and current challenges. Exceptional Children, 74, 264-288.
48.
ShealeyM. W.LueM. S. (2006). Why are all the black kids still in special education: Revisiting the issue of disproportionate representation. Multicultural Perspectives, 8, 3-9.
49.
StrandS.LindsayG. (2008). Evidence of ethnic disproportionality in special education in an English population. Journal of Special Education, 43, 174-190.
50.
SullivanA. L.KozleskiE.SmithA. (2008, March). Understanding the current context of minority disproportionality in special education: Federal response, state activities, and implications for technical assistance. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, New York, NY.
51.
WaitollerF. R.ArtilesA. J.CheneyD. A. (2010). The miner’s canary: A review of overrepresentation research and explanations. Journal of Special Education, 44, 29-49.
52.
WelnerK. G. (2001). Legal rights, local wrongs. New York, NY: SUNY Press.
