scholarly journals Addressing the Disproportionate Representation of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in Special Education through Culturally Responsive Educational Systems

2005 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janette K. Klingner ◽  
Alfredo J. Artiles ◽  
Elizabeth Kozleski ◽  
Beth Harry ◽  
Shelley Zion ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Culturally And Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Disproportionate Representation ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Diverse Students ◽  
Linguistically Diverse Students

In this article, we present a conceptual framework for addressing the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education. The cornerstone of our approach to addressing disproportionate representation is through the creation of culturally responsive educational systems. Our goal is to assist practitioners, researchers, and policy makers in coalescing around culturally responsive, evidence-based interventions and strategic improvements in practice and policy to improve students’ educational opportunities in general education and reduce inappropriate referrals to and placement in special education. We envision this work as cutting across three interrelated domains: policies, practices, and people. Policies include those guidelines enacted at federal, state, district, and school levels that influence funding, resource allocation, accountability, and other key aspects of schooling. We use the notion of practice in two ways, in the instrumental sense of daily practices that all cultural beings engage in to navigate and survive their worlds, and also in a technical sense to describe the procedures and strategies devised for the purpose of maximizing students’ learning outcomes. People include all those in the broad educational system: administrators, teacher educators, teachers, community members, families, and the children whose opportunities we wish to improve.

scholarly journals Meeting The Need For Special Education Teachers For Culturally Linguistically Diverse Students With Disabilities

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Peterson ◽  
Stephen Showalter
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Culturally And Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Diverse Students ◽  
Linguistically Diverse Students ◽  
And Training

This paper describes why special education teachers are needed to meet the needs of the increasing number of culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities in the United States.  The paper presents innovative approaches to recruiting and training culturally responsive special education teachers.

Wading Through Quicksand: Making Sense of Minority Disproportionality in Identification of Emotional Disturbance

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 244-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda L. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Emotional Disturbance ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Culturally And Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Diverse Students ◽  
Linguistically Diverse Students ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Research Findings

The debate surrounding disproportionality in the identification of culturally and linguistically diverse students for special education, and in the category of emotional disturbance in particular, remains highly contentious, particularly as scholars grapple with the meaning and causes of disproportionality. In this article, I discuss assumptions underpinning this line of scholarship and implications for the meaning we make of research findings related to disparities in special education and students’ needs. Efforts to understand and address inequity must be juxtaposed with the imprecise, and at times inscrutable, conceptual, psychometric, procedural, and causal issues surrounding identification and potential disproportionality, even while maintaining a fundamental desire to benefit students.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogies

Education ◽  
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan C. Faircloth
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Culturally And Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Diverse Students ◽  
Cultural And Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Linguistically Diverse Students ◽  
The Impact

Historically, the academic performance of many culturally and linguistically diverse students has tended to lag behind that of their peers. This has been attributed by some as a failure of the educational system to meet these students’ academic, social, and emotional needs. Increasing diversity within the school-aged population demands that schools respond to the needs and abilities of these students. Central to these efforts is a commitment to the preparation, recruitment, and retention of a teaching force capable of acknowledging and respecting the unique learning abilities and needs of their students. Emerging in the1990s, the term “culturally responsive pedagogies” (CRP), often interchanged with the term “culturally relevant pedagogies,” has been used to describe the knowledge, skills, and dispositions characteristic of teachers who embrace the role of cultural and linguistic diversity within the teaching and learning environment. Teachers who engage in culturally responsive practices view their students’ cultural and linguistic diversity as strengths rather than deficits. Culturally responsive teachers build on their students’, and their families’/communities’ unique strengths as they work to develop effective educational practices for students from diverse backgrounds. Although hailed as a marker of effective teaching for culturally and linguistically diverse students, there is limited large-scale empirical evidence documenting the actual impact of CRP on students’ academic performance, leading some to question the utility of such practices. Given the highly contentious nature of the early-21st-century educational system it is imperative that increased research be conducted to document the impact of CRP on students’ academic experiences and subsequent outcomes.

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