A Look Into Special Education’s Inequity: Demographics, Funding, Teachers, and Location.

The racial groups who are the most affected by the discriminatory bias within the special education system are Black, Hispanic, and in some states, Native American students (Cramer et. al, 2007). As the data presents, the most common categories for their placements are EMR and EBD, which are the most subjectively assessed categories for placement (Cramer et. al, 2007). This isn’t to say that all Black, Hispanic, and Native American students placed in special education are not in need of services, but it is significant to note how, where, and why this frequent intervention happens for so many within these populations (Losen, 2002). In this reading, we will examine how and why there is a discrepancy in special education services for BIPOC students through the lenses of school demographics, funding, teacher bias, and location.

Demographics and Services:

The racial make-up of a school can have a major impact on students' referrals, namely if a school’s student body is primarily white or if a school’s student body is primarily BIPOC. In both of these cases, there involves the concept of “othering.” When there is a minority of students of a different race from the majority of the school population, there will be an implicit reaction toward those who are in the minority (Cherry, 2020). This would be the case no matter what racial group is in the majority of a school. However, when the reactions are toward BIPOC students in a majority white school, the results can be far more invasive than those experienced by white students in a majority BIPOC school (Barshay, 2019). What I mean by “invasive” is that the actions taken against BIPOC students can be disproportionate to what a student actually does, such as enrollment in special education before a student’s situation is fully analyzed via parental input, possible history of trauma, “othering” within the school, etc.

In schools that are dominated by white students, BIPOC students tend to be over-identified for disabilities (Barshay, 2019). By contrast, BIPOC students as well as white students are substantially underidentified in schools that have high percentages of BIPOC students (Barshay, 2019). First, let’s take a closer look into what overidentification looks like in white-dominated schools, and then we will see why underidentification happens in BIPOC-dominated schools.

Students may come from all different backgrounds, but race has been found to be a significant factor in special education placement (Losen, 2002). For Students of Color, the standards for acceptable behavior are much more strict than they are for white students (Barshay, 2019). When BIPOC students are behaving outside what is deemed acceptable, referral and assessment for special education is given far more easily than it would be for their white peers (Barshay, 2019). In further words, a double-standard can be created by “othering” and a school’s administrative bias.

The double-standards for white and BIPOC students may be at play, but that does not mean that all BIPOC students in majority-white schools are misplaced. However, not all students improve when they are placed into special education. For BIPOC students who do not thrive when they are in special education, their lack of improvement can be due to the fact that even in quality programs, BIPOC students in special education at white-dominated schools are not always treated the same as white students. As special education researcher and advocate Daniel Losen (2002) puts it, “Many minority children do have disabilities but are at risk of receiving inappropriate and inadequate services and unwanted isolation...for some children, receiving inappropriate services may be more harmful than receiving none at all. For others, not receiving help early enough may exacerbate learning and behavior problems” (xxi).

One service that affects BIPOC students more than white students in special ed are classrooms that are separated from general education classrooms. While a more isolated approach may be very beneficial to some, special education’s isolation in white-dominated schools happens more for Students of Color than it does for white students (Losen, 2002). Losen and many other special education reasearches have found that a less isolated environment benefits special needs students, as they are able to collaborate more with their peers and learn how to navigate their needs in a nonexclusive setting (2002). But, when there is minimal effort to keep students in an inclusive, general education environment, something more is happening that is not in the student’s best interest (Losen, 2002). This something could be that there are not enough general ed classroom resources, such as teacher aides, for special needs students. It also might be that a school’s administrators do not want to deal with the extra work or potential issues that mixed-classrooms bring, like disruptive emotional outbreaks or fights. This something might also be the overt racism within a school, a keeping to the “separate but equal” dynamic. As I see it, these instances indicate that BIPOC special education students are the ones affected the most.

In summary, BIPOC students in white-dominated schools can be held at higher standards than white students which can lead to misidentification due to this “othering” complex. When placed in special education, BIPOC students may also receive inadequate care. These realities showcase how segregated school systems can significantly impact the demographics of special education.

Funding:

It may seem that white students in BIPOC-dominated schools would be “othered” and referred to special education in a similar way that Students of Color are in white-dominated schools. This, however, is not the case (Barshay, 2019). In BIPOC-dominated schools, underidentification is actually a problem across the board. According to a 2019 study by Pennsylvania State University’s Paul Morgan, “more than 40 percent of the nation’s Black and Hispanic students attend racially isolated schools in which more than 90 percent of the students are Students of Color” (Barshay, 2019, para 5). As Morgan further explains, funding is very often a limiting factor for services that a school can provide:

“Special education services are expensive, often more than double the cost of educating a child who doesn’t have a disability. Roughly 6.4 million public school students in the U.S. receive special education services annually, at an estimated cost of nearly $40 billion. The federal government foots only a small part of the bill, leaving localities and states to pay for the rest” (Barshay, 2019, para 19).

In schools where funding for essential services is so tight, it is clear why only a small percentage of those in need of special education services are referred and why those who do not need it are not referred. In my opinion, essential services should never be a rich man’s game, but in underfunded, BIPOC-dominated schools, all students (independent of race) are underidentified, making the “game” these students face a reality.

Teachers:

Teachers are pillars in a student’s educational experience, but not all students are treated equally by those who are in charge. As we all know, no two teachers are alike! This is great because it shakes things up and lets students learn in different ways. However, this also means that there is a variation in what teachers label as “bad behavior” and who teachers label as “trouble students.” A 1982 study found that teachers were more likely to recommend special education for students whose ethnic backgrounds differed from their own (Elder, 2019). As 79 percent of today’s school teachers are white and more than half of the special education’s educable mentally retardated and emotionally/behaviorally disordered students are BIPOC, this statistic remains significant (Elder, 2019).

Minority students are overrepresented in the EMR and EBD classifications of special education - classifications that rely on subjective, qualitative testing (Cramer et al, 2007). These numbers indicate that many who analyze students for special education have a bias against BIPOC students. Even in the evaluation process of special education, there is prejudice that can creep in and taint the evaluation’s results. As Losen (2002) explains, “Subjective decisions creep into all elements of the evaluation process, including whom to test, what test to use, when to use alternative tests, how to interpret student responses, and what weight to give results from specific tests. All of these alter the outcomes” (xxv). When a school administrator’s view of the student is skewed by the prejudice they hold, the student is likely to be misplaced. Stereotypes such as Black and Latino students’ need of lowered expectations fuel this kind of prejudice which results in a broken system.

In addition to bias, there are other sociological factors that contribute to the referral process. The teachers of underfunded, BIPOC-dominated schools are often “poorly trained” and without the knowledge of the dynamics of special education, often using referral as a disciplinary tool (Losen, 2002, xxvi). School overcrowding is also an issue for BIPOC communities. Underfunded, overcrowded schools are disproportionately in districts with high percentages of BIPOC students, meaning that there are fewer resources for more students in these areas (Losen, 2002). With underqualified teachers and a lack of resources, schools cannot accommodate for special needs, essentially leaving the students of these largely BIPOC schools underserved.

There is good and bad in variation, but it can be a disservice if the bad overtakes the good. When a teacher does not receive adequate training or their bias is not checked, it can result in a poor judgement of a student. When a teacher’s shortcomings are combined with a school’s lack of resources for those with special needs, students can easily be led off-course.

Location:

The place with the most significant statistics that showcase the disparities within special education is the American South. As history has indicated, the South is the region with the most explicit difference between Black and white people, segregating them by race in and out of schools (Editors, 2020). In a 2002 survey, it was found that almost three quarters of states with unusually high referral rates for Black students (2.75-5.41%) were in the South (Losen). States with a history of racial apartheid have been consistently found to overrepresent Black students in special education programs, suggesting that “the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations’ may have replaced the undeniable, intentional racial discrimination in education against Blacks that onced pervaded in the South” (Losen, 2002, xxii).

The racial divide in Southern states has the most evident disparity for Black students, with a less stark contrast for Latino and Native American students (Losen, 2002). We should also note that referral rates for Asian Americans are far lower than any other racial group across all states, raising the possibility of inadequate attention to their special needs, possibly due to a contrast in prejudice as it relates to academics for Asian people (Losen, 2002).

It is clear that location is an indicator of the inequality within the special education system. Some academics and advocates have argued that special education has “become a tool to perpetuate racial segregation,” and this injustice is evident in the South (Barshay, 2019, para 2).

Conclusion:

In essence, BIPOC students within the special education system are more often than not underserved compared to their white counterparts. In schools with a majority white population, Students of Color are held to a stricter standard for behavior and academic performance, indicative of “othering” within a school setting. If they stray from the line, BIPOC students in white-dominated schools are more likely to be referred to special education, whether or not they are actually disabled. In these schools, special education students can be given unnecessarily isolated care. Underfunded schools, being without the resources to accommodate for adjunct services and often lacking well-trained teachers, tend to under-identify students - white and BIPOC alike. In both white and BIPOC dominated schools, teachers' biases against BIPOC students can lead to overidentification which happens to the greatest extent for Black students in the American South. In order to stop these systemic issues from continuing, there needs to be a massive overhaul to special education’s assessment process, its funding, and to the means that teachers use to judge and resolve students’ behavior. In the article entitled Conclusion Solutions, we will explore what these changes look like and how they can influence the experiences of future special needs students.

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References

Barshay, J. (2019, August 19). New studies challenge the claim that Black students are sent to special ed too much. The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/new-studies-challenge-the-claim-that-black-students-are-sent-to-special-ed-too-much/.

Cherry, Kendra. How Othering Contributes to Discrimination and Prejudice. (n.d.). Verywell Mind. Retrieved December 9, 2020, from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-othering-5084425.

Cramer, Elizabeth et al. Case Studies of Minority Student Placement in Special Education. Teachers College Press. 2007.

Editors, H. com. (n.d.). Jim Crow Laws. HISTORY. Retrieved December 13, 2020, from https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws.

Elder, T. E., Figlio, D. N., Imberman, S. A., & Persico, C. L. (2019). School Segregation and Racial Gaps in Special Education Identification (No. w25829). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w25829.

Losen, Daniel J. and Gary Orfield. Racial Inequity in Special Education. Harvard Education Press. 2002.