Racial and language minority students in elementary and middle school are less likely than their White, English-speaking peers to be identified as having learning disabilities, according to a new national study.
Consequently, minorities are disproportionately underrepresented in special education. They are also less likely than Whites to receive potentially beneficial special education services.
This theory about underrepresentation differs from most of those in prior research. It also contrasts with federal legislation and policies that have attempted to reduce what has been repeatedly reported to be minority overrepresentation in special education. Currently, the U.S. Department of Education is considering issuing further compliance monitoring guidelines regarding minority overrepresentation.
Dr. Paul L. Morgan calls such a focus “misdirected.”
“These well-intentioned policies instead may be exacerbating the nation’s education inequities,” says Morgan, a Pennsylvania State University associate professor of education and lead author of the national study. “As a matter of social justice, we should work to ensure that all children with disabilities, regardless of race, ethnicity or language use, receive the care they need.”
Researchers from Penn State and the University of California, Irvine, examined demographic characteristics of children across five disability categories: learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, intellectual disabilities, emotional disturbances and other health impairments such as Tourette syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
“Our study failed to find any evidence that racial, ethnic or language minority children in the United States are being disproportionately overrepresented in special education,” the scholars wrote. “(Our) findings are not consistent with characterizations of special education as racist or discriminatory due to predispositions to label racial, ethnic, or language minority children as disabled in order to segregate them in classrooms separate from their White, English-speaking classmates. Federal legislation and policies that lower cultural and language barriers may be necessary to ensure that all children with disabilities are provided with the special education services for which they are legally entitled.”
