Resources Details

Disproportionality Fills in the Gaps: Connections Between Achievement, Discipline and Special Education in the School-to-Prison Pipeline (PDF)

This article examines how a focus on the achievement gap has overshadowed ways in which school systems constrain student achievement through trends of racial disproportionality in areas such as school discipline, special education assignment, and juvenile justice; the article considers these racial disparities as issues of institutionalized racism.

Disproportionality Fills in the Gaps: Connections Between Achievement, Discipline and Special Education in the School-to-Prison Pipeline (PDF)

This article examines how a focus on the achievement gap has overshadowed ways in which school systems constrain student achievement through trends of racial disproportionality in areas such as school discipline, special education assignment, and juvenile justice; the article considers these racial disparities as issues of institutionalized racism.

Disproportionality and Overrepresentation, Module 5 from Building the Legacy: A Training Curriculum on IDEA 2004 (WEBPAGE)

Includes slideshow, trainers guide, and participant handouts for explaining what states, districts, and schools must now do to address disproportionate representation, including significant disproportionality, as outlined in IDEA 2004. NOTE:  After September 30, 2014 all of the NICHCY resources will be housed in the Center for Parent Information and Resources Library at http://www.parentcenterhub.org/resources

Disparities and Discrimination in Student Discipline by Race and Family Income (Article)

Black and poor students are suspended from U.S. schools at higher rates than White and nonpoor students. While the existence of these disparities has been clear, the causes of the disparities have not. This study found Black and poor students are, in fact, punished more harshly than the students with whom they fight.

Dismantling Desegregation: The Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of Education (BOOK)

The book describes how court ordered desegregation efforts have subsided in strength. It exposes how school systems have slowly re-segregated since the landmark Brown V. Board of Education decision. It is useful for practitioners who are interested in understanding why school systems look like they do and how segregation is related to inequities in education.

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.

Disabling Punishment: The Need for Remedies to the Disparate Loss of Instruction Experienced by Black Students with Disabilities (REPORT)

Losen and his colleagues at the Civil Rights Project at UCLA provide readers with an analysis of current national and statewide data on continuing disparities in rates of punitive discipline for students with Individual Education Programs (IEPs) based on race and ethnicity. Their recommendations define the critical changes needed to eliminate the inequities as part of a pathway to reformation.

Disabling Inequity: The Urgent Need for Race-Conscious Resource Remedies. (ARTICLE)

This three-part report demonstrates that a large subgroup of students with disabilities are not getting their needs met; describes the school experiences of these students in relation to exclusionary discipline, referral to law enforcement, and chronic absenteeism; and indicates how the pandemic is exacerbating pre-existing inequitable conditions. The report concludes with recommendations for federal policymakers.

Differential Ratings of Specific Behaviors of African Americans Children in Special Education (PDF)

This research study found that teachers gave African American students significantly higher statistical ratings for hyperactive behaviors than did the children’s mother or the children themselves.

Desegregating Ourselves: Challenging the Biases That Perpetuate Inequities in Our Schools 

This groundbreaking book examines the root causes of persistent disproportionality, including systemic inequality, color blindness, deficit thinking, and poverty disciplining–all of which create barriers to success for marginalized students."  The book includes: 

• An in-depth survey of race and racism in the American education system, its laws, and its policies, all of which perpetuate systemic inequality and harmful stereotypes 
• A practical framework for developing cross-cultural skills and dispositions that challenge our biases and promote educational equity 
• Concrete strategies for interrupting and replacing deficit-based thinking and prejudices 

Powerful reflections based on survey data from over 4,000 educators, which vividly illustrate how our beliefs manifest in schools and in our treatment of students