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This report, entitled Moving Towards Equity: Addressing Disproportionality in Special Education in Indiana, continues to document the status of disparities in service, as well as efforts being made to address the issue, in the state of Indiana. The report paints a “mixed picture”: although disproportionality continues to be in evidence across the state, a number of planning districts have instituted innovative programs to address the issue. In addition to documenting disproportionality, the report describes Local Equity Action Development Projects designed to address the issue, a new measure to assess changes in disproportionality in the short term, and efforts to encourage discussion about the issue of race. There is still much that we do not understand about the nature of disproportionality—the issue of Hispanic under-representation, in particular, needs to be more fully explored. Yet as Indiana’s educators continue to make a commitment to confront equity issues in general and special education, there can be no doubt the state of Indiana will gain continue to gain valuable information and new perspectives that will improve our capacity to address this complex issue.
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Documentation on the disproportionality of culturally diverse students in special education has been extensive, yet our knowledge of what causes disproportionality and how to address it is limited. This report describes an intensive study undertaken across 14 schools within seven Indiana school corporations to improve our understanding of the factors which may contribute to the disproportionate referral and placement of minority students in special education. We interviewed 66 educators-teachers, principals, schools psychologists and special education directors-about their perspectives on the challenges faced in urban education, the process of special education, available and needed resources, and the specific topics of disproportionality and diversity.
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The overrepresentation of minority children is among the most persistent and unresolved problems in the special education. In response to this problem, the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 97) mandated new state reporting requirements concerning minority enrollment in special education and the suspension and expulsion of students with disabilities. These new requirements make the issue of overrepresentation and school discipline a very practical issue for state departments of education. Is there disproportionate representation of minorities in special education in Indiana? If so, in which categories or placement? Are there measures that will allow the Indiana Department of Education to accurately identify planning districts exhibiting disproportionality?
To address these questions, data from Indiana’s 66 special education planning districts from the 1998-1999 school year were analyzed, attempting to identify a set of defensible measures of minority disproportionality. Part I of the study focused on statewide disproportionality data, including both overall special education enrollment ant in specific disability categories and placements. Part II focused more specifically on African American disproportionality, using a set of validated criteria to identify districts that show the most consistent evidence of problems with disproportionality.
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The two-year expulsion of seven black students in Decatur, Illinois in the fall of 2000 for a football game brawl has brought the issue of unequal discipline to national attention. Although the suit brought by the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH on behalf of those students was turned back in federal court, inequities in the application of school suspension and expulsion have begun to be widely documented. A series of reports since that incident have documented the overrepresentation of African American students in rates of office referral, school suspension and school expulsion).
Yet the unequal treatment of African American students in school discipline is by no means a new issue. Rates of school punishment for black students that exceed rates for white students have been documented for over 25 years. Nor does the problem appear to be lessening; recent research reports continue to find disparities in discipline in office referrals, suspension, expulsion, and corporal punishment. There can be little doubt that African American students are in general subjected to higher rates of school suspension and other school punishments than other students.
But does minority disproportionality represent racial discrimination? That is both the central question, and the most difficult to answer. Some have suggested that since African Americans are overrepresented in lower economic backgrounds, perhaps differences in discipline are not an issue of race, but rather an issue of social or economic class. Or perhaps black students misbehave more, forcing teachers to respond with greater rates of disciplinary consequences. If these explanations hold up, then disproportionate rates of school discipline probably do not represent racial discrimination or bias. On the other hand, if these alternate hypotheses are not sufficient to explain away findings of disproportionality, then it becomes more likely that disproportionate treatment is a sign of some form of racial discrimination.
The Color of Discipline explores possible reasons for disproportionality in school discipline. The research won an award from Operation PUSH, the Push for Excellence Award, for its contribution to advancing the cause of civil rights. The paper, downloadable below, and available in hard copy from the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, explores the disproportionate discipline of African American students. How extensive is the unequal treatment of black students in school discipline? Where does it come from? Can it be explained away by economic status or amount of misbehavior?
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Disproportionate representation of minorities in special education has been and continues to be a central concern for the field. Although the presence of minority overrepresentation has been well documented, it is fair to say that the full complexity of the problem has not yet been fully understood, nor is there a clear picture of the causes of disproportionality. This report is the second phase of a study conducted by the Indiana Education Policy Center for the Indiana Department of Education Division of Special Education on the status of minority disproportionality in special education in Indiana, and on the disciplinary provisions of IDEA 97.
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