Addressing Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students: Overrepresentation in Special Education: Guidelines for Parents (ARTICLE)

Addresses the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education and outlines the theoretical assumptions and principles that should guide efforts to reduce the disproportionate representation of these students in special education.

Citation/Source

Janette K. Klingner et al. (2005) Education Policy Analysis Archives.

Publication Date  2024

Methods for Assessing Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality in Special Education: A Technical Assistance Guide (PDF)

The resource is a technical guide for understanding how disproportionality is calculated and what the benefits and drawbacks of each method are. It is useful to practitioners that seek to understand the mathematics and logic behind a numerical citation for disproportionality.

Citation/Source

Methods for Assessing Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality in Special Education: A Technical Assistance Guide. (Westat). 2014.

Publication Date  2024

Addressing the Disproportionate Representation of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in Special Education through Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (PDF)

The article provides a conceptual map for understanding how policy, practice and people intersect in schools. The article is useful for practitioners that want to understand how federal mandates, school practices and the multitude of individuals in schools can coalesce into a system that improves general and special education.

Citation/Source

Klingner, J. K., Artiles, A. and others. “Addressing the Disproportionate Representation of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in Special Education through Culturally Responsive Educational Systems.” Education Policy Analysis Archives, 13(38), 2005: 1-41.

Publication Date  2024

Discarding the Deficit Model (ARTICLE)

The article describes ways in which students with disabilities have been perceived in practice. It is useful for practitioners that seek to reflect on commonly held perceptions about race and disability and how these ideas can influence practice.

Citation/Source

Harry, B. and Klingner, J. “Discarding the Deficit Model.” Educational Leadership. 64(5), 2007: 16-21.

Publication Date  2024

Racial Inequity in Special Education (BOOK)

The book explores the implications of disproportionality on educational outcomes and equity. It is an important for practitioners because it offers a broad overview of findings and issues associated with inequity in special education.

Citation/Source

Losen and Orfield. Racial Inequity in Special Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University; Harvard Education Press, 2005.

Publication Date  2024

*(The) Miners’ Canary: A Review of Overrepresentation Research and Explanations (PDF)

The article surveys existing research on disproportionality and outlines three common perspectives used to explain the issue. It is useful for practitioners because it shows how experts have tried to understand factors associated with disproportionality.  

Citation/Source

Waitoller, F. R., Artiles, A. J., and Cheney, D. "The Miners’ canary: A Review of Overrepresentation Research and Explanations." Journal of Special Education, 44(1), 2010:29-49

Publication Date  2024

Achieving Equity in Special Education: History, Status, and Current Challenges (PDF)

The article is comprehensive in both its scope and depth in explaining disproportionality. It clearly lays out what research has said about the issue since the 1960’s and offers a thorough snapshot of current understandings of inequities in special education.

Citation/Source

Skiba, R. J., Simmons, A. D., and others. “Achieving Equity in Special Education: History, Status, and Current Challenges.” Exceptional Children. Vol. 74, No. 3, 2008: 264-288.

Publication Date  2024

CCBD’s Position Summary on Federal Policy on Disproportionality in Special Education (PDF)

The paper by the Council for Children with Behavior Disorders critically questions the effectiveness of federal policy and disproportionality monitoring mechanisms. It is an important piece to read because it questions how the provisions in IDEA, and compliance to IDEA, can address disproportionate outcomes. It offers practitioners the chance to reflect on how they understand IDEAs relationship to abatement of disproportionate outcomes.  

Citation/Source

Skiba, R., S. Albrecht, and D. Losen. 2012. CCBD’s Position Summary on Federal Policy on Disproportionality in Special Education. Arlington, VA: Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders.

Publication Date  2024

Race in the Schoolyard: Negotiating the Color Line in Classrooms and Communities (BOOK)

The book explores how race is often not explicitly talked about in schools yet has a profound effect on how schools are organized, how students and teachers interact and how implicit lessons of race are taught. The book is an important tool for practitioners who seek to become more reflective on how their everyday interactions in schools are embedded within the historical and racial fabric of America. Lewis, A. Race in the Schoolyard: Negotiating the Color Line in Classrooms and Communities. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2003

Citation/Source

Lewis, A. Race in the Schoolyard: Negotiating the Color Line in Classrooms and Communities. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2003

Publication Date  2024

Truth in Labeling: Disproportionality in Special Education (PDF)

A guide designed to assist local and state leaders in initiating critical conversations within their schools and communities about disproportionality.

Citation/Source

National Education Association (2007).

Publication Date  2024

The State Performance Plan Technical Assistance Project is a program of the Napa County Office of Education.

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Funding Information

California Department of Education, Special Education Division’s special project, State Performance Plan Technical Assistance Project (SPP-TAP) is funded through a contract with the Napa County Office of Education. SPP-TAP is funded from federal funds, (State Grants #H027A080116) provided from the U.S. Department of Education Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the U.S. Department of Education.

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