This dissertation provides an overview of the literature examining the history of policies impacting the overrepresentation of African Americans in special education. For decades this topic has been examined and proven to be a clear problem, yet the problem still exists. Historical and current research has focused on the proven problem but there has been little focus on if these Laws which are driven by different policies and other factors have made an impact on the overrepresentation of African Americans in special education. Historically individuals that come from low socioeconomic status have less access to the appropriate educational materials, whether it's due to home life or poor underfunded schools. Several policies such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and Goals 2000, No Child Left Behind and Every Student Succeeds Act focused on ways to improve the educational system and give children that come from low socioeconomic status and failing schools a chance to go to better schools to get better educational outcomes. One of Goals 2000 and ESEA motives was to impact low-income students by providing them with extra support to meet high expectations that came along with challenging educational standards. Increased funding for the Title I program, and reforms were proposed in order to provide extra support to ensure student success (Goals 2000 and ESEA, n.d). This proposal outlines a document analysis of the laws enacted and amended to address the April Dunn Act which was implemented under the No Child Left Behind Act during the Obama Administration prior to President Obama signing Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. The overarching research question for this research study is, "what is the impact of the April Dunn Act (Act 833) on the graduation and post-secondary opportunities for African American Special education students in the state of Louisiana?" [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]