This article reviews the evolution of placement litigation based on the overrepresentation of minority students in special educational programs for students with mild disabilities, provides commentaries on four court trials that have yielded judicial opinion and discusses the implications of this litigation for the reform of special education…

Overrepresentation of minorities in special education classes and bias in IQ tests that allegedly underlies such placements are discussed in regard to the use of psychological tests for educational classification. Concludes that the use of tests, rather than the tests themselves, leads to discriminatory placement. Suggests solutions to this…

Recommendations from "Placing Children in Special Education" are reviewed, focusing on: (1) inaccurate interpretation of overrepresentation of minority mildly mentally retarded students, (2) use of prereferral interventions, (3) cross-categorical programing, (4) application of an outcomes criterion, and (5) expansion of regular education…

Recent court decisions concerning the demographics of placement of students in various program tracks are reviewed in three articles. Focus is on special cases involving charges of overrepresentation of minorities in programs for the educably mentally retarded. Implications for school psychology and special education are discussed. (TJH)

A study explored differences in the special education programming of 115 African-American and 115 Caucasian students (grades 3-5). Although a clear pattern was found in variables related to placement restrictiveness, the pattern was similar for African-American and Caucasian students. Variables include problem severity, presence of behavioral…

Claims of overrepresentation of minority students in special education programs and the myths and distortions surrounding these claims are the topic of this study. The findings of a report on this topic performed by the National Academy of Sciences is discussed, noting that although the report focused on the right question (why is…

Random samples of black and white EMR (Educable Mentally Retarded) students (N=69) from defendant districts in Marshall v. Georgia were compared on numerous variables related to preplacement evaluation, classification and placement in special education, and reevaluation. On nearly all variables black and white mildly mentally retarded (MMR)…

The paper discusses the various problems related to the current concerns with nonbiased assessment, with particular emphasis on the placement of minority group students in classes for the mildly retarded. Sections address the following topics: special education litigation; underlying issues in court cases (including the meaning of IQ test results,…

The use of adaptive behavior information for classification and placement of African-American and white students (n=707) with mental retardation was compared. Comparisons on general intellectual functioning and several indices of adaptive behavior yielded few differences, suggesting equal treatment was achieved despite substantial…

The article examines issues concerning mild mental retardation (MMR) classification and programing including placement bias litigation, MMR diagnostic construct and classification criteria, general intellectual functioning, adaptive behavior, sociocultural status, pseudo reforms through changes in assessment, the Learning Potential Assessment…

In examining the issue of overrepresentation of minority students in special education, this article distinguishes between the percentage of category or program by group and percentage of group in category or program, which provide very different perspectives. Caution in interpreting data from the Office of Civil Rights relating "race/ethnicity"…

Future special education placement bias litigation can be prevented if special education and related services programs meet certain principles of responsibility, including ensuring the development of effective interventions in regular education, using assessment procedures that are oriented toward intervention rather than student classification,…

Over the past ten years, dramatic changes have been seen in the numbers of mildly mentally retarded students in the United States; in particular, a 30 percent decrease in the number of mildly mentally retarded students between 1976 and 1986 has been well documented. These changes have occurred in response to litigation in the federal courts,…

This monograph addresses issues concerned with the disproportionate representation of minority students, especially black students, in special education programs. It reviews the nondiscrimination legal requirements and protections as well as litigation in the federal courts. After a "warm-up exercise" in the form of a pre-test, an…