The misrepresentation of certain student groups in special education is a multifaceted issue reflecting broader educational inequities. This article explores the complex dynamics of disproportionality, focusing on differences by race group and disability category in identification and placement for special education services. It examines the…

This chapter examines how studies focused on the same topic--disproportionality in special education--can generate vastly different conclusions about its sources and causes. By analyzing existing disagreements in the field, we explore essential questions about what constitutes high-quality and relevant evidence when seeking to understand how,…

Through the juxtaposition of 2 recent Supreme Court actions--"Allston v. Lower Merion County School District" (2015) and "Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District" (2017)--this article argues that special education is a neoliberal property that works to recruit disability through scientific-juridical qualifications of…

As the charter sector has matured, its critics have multiplied. While charter schools enjoyed bipartisan and substantial public support for their first 20 years, the tide of public opinion now flows in more varied directions. Policymakers and leaders across the country are facing pressure to limit charter expansion, with public support for charter…

This paper addresses the serious and pervasive problem of the mis-identification of English Language Learners (ELLs) as Learning Disabled (LD). Recent increases in immigration make this problem all the more urgent. The paper outlines problems with current methods of differentiating between learning disabilities and language acquisition processes.…

The Special Education Division of the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) provides many services to Montana schools to assist them in providing a quality education to all students. The programs managed through this division are all aligned with Superintendent Juneau's Graduation Matters Montana initiative. The special education division is…

The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), signed on December 3, 2004, required that, not later than one year after the date of enactment of the reauthorized IDEA, each state is required to have in place a performance plan evaluating the state's implementation of Part B and describing how the state will improve such…

In the last three decades, special-education programs in the United States have grown at a tremendous pace. Much of this growth reflects a growing incidence of students diagnosed with the mildest form of learning disability, called a Specific Learning Disability (SLD), and thus the hardest to distinguish from an ordinary cognitive deficit. Between…

The present study analyzed identification procedures and explored the possibility of dyslexia overidentification in Greece. Data from various institutional sources provided evidence that the prevalence rate of dyslexia in the school population, aged 6-18, was slightly higher than 1%. Compared to the corresponding percentages from the United States…

While research has documented the predominance of boys in US special education programmes, similar attention to girls' under-representation has been rare. Recent research suggests that there may be just as many girls in need of these services, but for various reasons they are less likely to be identified through the referral process. Girls who…

Identifying Specific Learning Disability (SLD) has been an arduous task. Until IDEA 2004, diagnosing SLD was limited to IQ discrepancy models lacking in both empirical evidence and contributing to minority over-representation. This paper examines the history of SLD assessment, the phenomena of minority over-representation, and the implementation…

Problems facing African American students with special needs are numerous and complex. Although processes and procedures are in place to properly serve these students, far too many become ensnared in webs of bureaucracy and benign neglect. This article examines African American students? experiences with special education in Milwaukee Public…

The high degree of overlap of race and poverty in our society has led to the presumption in both research and practice that ethnic disproportionality in special education is in large measure an artifact of the effects of poverty. This article explores relationships among race, poverty, and special education identification to arrive at a more…

This brief paper analyzes the types of information about disproportionality of particular racial/ethnic groups in special education that states provided in the Biennial Performance Reports (BPRs) submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in 2002 (covering the academic years 1991-2000 and 2000-2001). A section on the study's background notes…

This brief paper summarizes information collected from state education agencies concerning: (1) state-level special education data collected by gender; and (2) gender and special education issues identified as concerns. A section on the study's background notes that about two-thirds of students receiving special education services are boys,…