In public schools, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students are overidentified with autism (AU) but are underrepresented in other special education categories. Such patterns may be result, in part, from overaggregation of data from students representing diverse AAPI ethnic groups. Yet, professionals' implicit biases, limited cultural…

Providing both a theoretical framework and practical strategies, this resource will help teachers, counselors, and related service providers develop understanding and empathy to improve outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with disabilities. The text features narrative portraits of six immigrant families and their…

A school cannot be "good" unless it is good for all students -- including those with disabilities. In the 2018-19 school year, 14% of students in U.S. public schools received special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, yet effective inclusion of students with disabilities is too often an…

The disproportionate representation of students of color in special education is a serious concern that has lasted for forty years. Research suggests that students of color are too often not identified accurately for special education and that the programs they are placed in are frequently poor in quality. This trend contributes to a…

The disproportionate representation of students of color in special education is a serious concern that has lasted for forty years. Research suggests that students of color are too often not identified accurately for special education and that the programs they are placed in are frequently poor in quality. This trend contributes to a…

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…

Since the inception of special education, scholars and practitioners have been concerned about the disproportionate representation of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds among students identified with disabilities. Professional efforts to address this disproportionality have encompassed a range of targets, but scholars…

In this important resource, educators will find evidence-based best practices to help them address the individual needs of English learners with academic challenges and those who have been referred for special education services. The authors make the case that systems can be put in place at three levels to help English learners succeed: the…

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), in response to recommendations in the Annual Report of the Advisory Council on the Education of Gifted and Talented Students (2015), has produced this document to provide guidance for school districts to more equitably identify and meet the needs of traditionally…

Recently in a "New York Times" op-ed entitled "Is Special Education Racist?" Morgan and Farkas (2015) confront conventional wisdom that there are too many minority students in special education stating, "The real problem is that Black children are underrepresented in special education classes when compared with White…

Accurately identifying English-language learner (ELL) students who also need special education services has long been a problem for educators. Historically, English-learners were overrepresented in special education, but litigation and civil rights complaints have, in more recent years, led to an equally troubling problem with identifying too few…

A new generation of Hispanic students are at risk due to inadequacies in our educational system. The inadequacies which include lack of prepared teachers and misuse of testing and assessment procedures impact special education programs, in particular, when one examines practices relative to Latino students in the area of learning disabilities. The…

The civil rights movements involving skin tone, gender or gender orientation, disability, and other physiognomic features remain important in securing the legal rights of individuals to equal treatment and equal opportunities regardless of their personal characteristics of color, origin, gender, and so on. Unfortunately, these welcome civil rights…

The disproportional representation of culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse and low-income students in special education and gifted and talented programs has been a persistent issue for many decades. It has been a long standing trend that the percentage of minority students constituting special education programs exceeds their…

African American males are overrepresented among youth in special education identified as having emotional and behavioral disorders. Compared to other youth in special education, they have the least access to needed services and the worst social and academic outcomes. Little empirically supported guidance exists to inform the development of…