Special Education Is Associated With Reduced Odds of School Discipline Among Students With Disabilities

Students with disabilities are disciplined at disproportionately high rates, despite federal laws designed to ensure disciplinary protection. We examine the association between disability and discipline using a novel approach, investigating whether behavior problems trigger special education referral, and if disciplinary outcomes change once students are enrolled. Using longitudinal data from an urban school district, we estimate lagged variance decomposition models that disaggregate the outcomes of special education services from the behavioral characteristics that prompt disciplinary responses. We find that (1) ongoing disruptive behavior leads to placement in special education and (2) receiving special education is associated with a reduced likelihood of punishment. Earlier identification is vital in order to treat, rather than punish, disruptive behavior.

Response to Intervention (RTI) and Changes in Special Education Categorization

Response to intervention (RTI) is used as a prerequisite to referring children for special education eligibility for learning disabilities (LD). RTI provides schools with a framework for helping students with learning challenges. In the United States, while the number of students receiving services through RTI has remained consistent, the overall number of students receiving some educational intervention through an alternate path has increased. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence that the RTI model had upon eligibility numbers in a large special education co-operative spanning 21 rural school districts in southern Illinois that represented 15,128 students. Each of the school districts maintained its own policies and procedures governing RTI implementation, special education referral, and special education eligibility. The study revealed that while the number of students with LD dropped significantly over the past decade, the numbers of children eligible for other disability categories increased in a similar proportion. This changing trend may be the result of several factors including changes in school district policy, parent advocates pressing for quicker paths to treatment, treatment providers shifting categories for a wide variety of reasons, or some yet unknown factor. These possible explanations suggest that family issues, time, finances, and procedural dynamics may play a role in the changing categorizations and should be better understood. Future studies should focus on the inclusion of more culturally and economically diverse students, within and outside the Unites States. Last, school district policies and RTI implementation procedures should be investigated to better uncover any potential relationship to this shifting data trend.

African American Students’ Experiences in Special Education Programs

Background/Context Disproportionate placement of African American students into special education programs is likely to be a form of institutional racism, especially when such placement stigmatizes students. If placement also fails to lead to educational benefits, the practice becomes even more suspect. Some studies have explored disproportionate placement (i.e., over-representation) from the perspectives of policy makers and educators, but few have looked at the practice from the vantage of the African American students experiencing it. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study explored how nine African American students in secondary special education placements perceived their school experiences and the benefits, challenges, and detriments associated with their placements and accompanying disability labels. Setting Participating students attended one of three high schools in an urban district in the midwestern United States. Respectively, the schools had low, medium, and high percentages of students on individualized education programs (IEPs). Population/Participants/Subjects Three students from each of three schools participated in the study. With the help of school personnel, the researchers selected students who (a) were African American, (b) were juniors or seniors, (c) carried the label of learning disabilities or mild cognitive impairment, and (d) had received special education services for at least three years. Research Design The researchers used an in-depth interview design including three increasingly detailed interviews with each student. Verbatim transcripts of interviews provided the data the researchers analyzed using (a) inductive coding, (b) development of case-specific profiles, (c) organization of codes to identify patterns in the data, and (d) identification of emergent themes. Findings/Results Three emergent themes suggested that, in most cases, students found the negative consequences of their special education placement to outweigh any benefits. The limited benefits of placement included interactions with responsive teachers and, in a few cases, more suitable instructional pacing. The negative consequences included the experience of being stigmatized by peers, making limited academic progress because of a slow-paced curriculum, and confronting barriers that kept them from returning to general education placements. Conclusions/Recommendations The study found that traumatic events in the students’ lives led to academic difficulties, which subsequently led to placement in special education. Rather than supporting the students through a difficult phase of their lives, educators used special education referral and placement as a form of victim blaming. This response had the effect of excluding the students from engagement with the general education curriculum and from interaction with friends. The dynamics of victim blaming led the researchers to judge special education referral and placement of the nine African American students as a form of institutional racism.

Exploring the K-5 special education referral process in one Midwest suburban school district

Studies have shown referrals for special education evaluations and the evaluation process itself is marred by teacher subjectivity and a lack of quantitative data (Dunn, 2006; Mamlin and Harris, 1998; and Ysseldyke et al.,1982). Consequently, this behavior leads to over identification of students from minority cultures due to their struggle to assimilate into the school environment (Deninger, 2008; Klingner and Harry, 2006; Parette, 2005; Poon-McBrayer and Garcia, 1994; Skiba et al., 2008; Wehmeyer and Schwartz, 2001). This study seeks to better understand the special education referral process in one Midwestern school district. Specifically, this qualitative study employed focus groups, interviews, and artifact collection to engage K-5 regular education teachers in conversations about common behaviors that prompt a referral for special education evaluation. The research was conducted in three elementary schools in a metropolitan school district.