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DISPROPORTIONALITY

DISPROPORTIONALITY. VIVIAN STITH-WILLIAMS, PH.D. VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. WHAT IS IT AND WHY DOES IT MATTER? March 31, 2010. TOPICS for DISCUSSION. Definition of terms Data overview Facing the Issues Virginia’s data Why does it matter? Causes of Disproportionality

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DISPROPORTIONALITY

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  1. DISPROPORTIONALITY VIVIAN STITH-WILLIAMS, PH.D. VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WHAT IS IT AND WHY DOES IT MATTER? March 31, 2010

  2. TOPICS for DISCUSSION Definition of terms Data overview Facing the Issues Virginia’s data Why does it matter? Causes of Disproportionality Strategies to Address the Problem Technical Assistance Emphasis

  3. What is disproportionality?Disproportionate representation is defined as the extent to which membership in a given group affects the probability of being placed in a specific education category (Oswald, et. al. 1999).Disproportionality or disproportionate representation refers to the over and/or under representation of minority students in receiving special education services in numbers greater than their percentage in the general population. Simply defined, disproportionate representation encompasses both “overrepresentation” in high incidence disabilities and “under representation” in programs for gifted and talented (NCCRESt, 2003). Additionally, disproportionate representation is found in school based discipline practices (Losen & Orfield, 2002).

  4. DATA OVERVIEW The United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has documented the patterns of disproportionate representation of minority students in special education programs for over 30 years. With each OCR survey, the following pattern has emerged: • African American students have been found to be overrepresented in the high incidence categories of intellectual disability, formerly mental retardation (MR) and emotional disability, formerly emotionally disturbed (ED) • American Indians are overrepresented in the specific learning disability (SLD) category • Asian/Pacific Islanders are underrepresented in almost every category • Caucasian students are consistently overrepresented in the gifted and talented (GT) programs and specific learning disability category • African American, Latino/Hispanic and American Indian students are underrepresented in the gifted/talented category.

  5. Nationally, African American students constitute 35% of the total special education enrollments in the ID category, yet represent 17% of elementary and secondary student enrollments. African American students are 2.4 times more likely to be labeled ID than white students and 26.4 percent of African American students are classified as ED, but are only 17 % of the overall student population. No other groups are overrepresented in the high incidence categories of intellectual disability and emotional disability. African Americans, especially males who engage in certain behaviors that represent artifacts of their culture – such as language (Ebonics), movement patterns (verve), and a certain “ethnic “ appearance have been found to be over referred for special education placement (Neal, McCray, & Webb-Johnson, 2001).

  6. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires accountability for all children, including student groups based on poverty, race, and ethnicity, disability and limited English proficiency. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA, 2004) mandates that State Education Agencies/local education agencies collect and examine data to determine if significant disproportionality based on race and ethnicity is occurring in: 1) the identification of students with disabilities; 2) particular disability categories; 3) placement in particular educational settings; and 4) the incidence, duration and type of disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions. FACING THE ISSUE

  7. WHY DOES IT MATTER? Disproportionality has been shown to cause harm to many minority students by: • Being denied access to the general education curriculum. • Receiving services that do not meet their needs. • Being misclassified or inappropriately labeled. • A stigma associated with labeling • Lowered expectations as well as a higher incidence for drop-outs, suspensions and expulsions that contribute to limited options for future success. • Placement in special education as a kind of discrimination through school segregation

  8. Causes of Disproportionality • General education practices • Defacto Segregation • Race/Ethnicity/Language • Lack of prereferral interventions • Assessment • Determination of eligibility • Placement decisions • Special education classes

  9. STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM • Culturally Responsive Teaching – a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students’ cultural references in all aspects of learning. • Positive Behavior Supports • Improving School Climate by eliminating bias, ensuring cultural competence, and being culturally responsive • Instructional Support Teams that provide a data-based process for academic intervention services in the general education classroom

  10. STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM • Availability of relevant data on minority identification and placement • Evidence-based teaching techniques • Supportive learning environments • High expectations for students • Strong Administrative support • Pre-referral interventions and modifications

  11. Both IDEA, 2004 and NCLB require schools to use effective methods, intervention and instructional strategies that are grounded in research. Prereferral interventions have been recognized as a response and/or approach to reduce the number of inappropriate referrals to special education. The defining features of the prereferral model include a preventive process, a team-based problem-solving approach, action-research orientation, and an intervention process that is centered upon the enhanced success of all students and teachers within the general education setting (Buck, Polloway, Cook, 2003).

  12. Prereferral interventions within the general education settings • Documented evidence basis for areas of concern • Comprehensive data for all areas • Culturally responsive assessment measures • Teaching staff reflect school demographic • Strong home-school relationships • Uniform criteria for how students are identified

  13. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE EMPHASISOperational definitions for Inappropriate IdentificationFramework for Indicator 9Framework for Indicator 10Record Review ProcessRecord Review Form/Scoring RubricSuggested Practices:Examination of local school division dataNCCRESt Rubric for self-assessment of division policies, procedures and practicesProtocol to document self-assessment for disproportionalitySpecial Education Identification Process SurveyStudent Academic Intervention ChecklistAction Plan to Reduce Disproportionality

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