National Education Association: Recommends New Assessment Strategy

National Education Association (NEA)

The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, related service providers, education support professionals, college faculty, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.

NEA Recommends New Assessment Strategy

The National Assessment Governing Board -- the board that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) -- is considering changes to its policies on how students with disabilities and English language learners participate in the national assessment, often called the Nation’s Report Card.  Senior policy analyst Patti Ralabate of NEA’s Education Policy and Practice Department offered testimony suggesting six key recommendations focused on using an inclusive and reasonable approach to increase the participation of students with disabilities and to improve the validity of cross-state comparisons .

To view testimony of recommendations:

http://www.nea.org/home/30609.htm

US Department of Education: Federal Law and Disproportionality

The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)—signed into law on Dec. 3, 2004, with final regulations published on Aug. 14, 2006—addresses dis-proportionality of minority students in special education. This is one in a series of documents, prepared by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) in the U.S. Department of Education that covers a variety of high-interest topics and brings together the regulatory requirements related to those topics to support constituents in preparing to implement the new regulations. This document addresses the final regulatory requirements regarding dis-proportionality and over-identification. 

IDEA Regulations

1. Require policies and procedures designed to prevent the inappropriate over-identification or disproportionate representation by race and ethnicity of children as children with disabilities

2. Require collection and examination of data regarding dis-proportionality.

3. Establish requirements for review and revision of policies, practices and procedures.

4. Require States to disaggregate data on suspension and expulsion rates by race and ethnicity.

5. Require States to monitor their LEA's to examine dis-proportionality.

To see more specific federal regulations:

http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,dynamic,TopicalBrief,7,

Statutory law within each state soon reflected these requirements of addressing dis-proportionality.

Example: Washington State Legislature: WAC 392-172A-07040

Significant dis-proportionality.

  (1) The state collects and examines data annually from school districts to determine if significant dis-proportionality based on race or ethnicity is occurring in the state with respect to:

     (a) The identification of children as students eligible for special education;

     (b) The identification of students with a particular disability;

     (c) The placement of students in particular educational settings; or

     (d) The incidence, duration, and type of disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions.

     (2)(a) In the case of a determination of significant dis-proportionality with respect to the identification of students eligible for special education including those with a particular disability, the placement in particular educational settings of these students, or discipline, the OSPI shall provide for the review and, if appropriate, revision of the policies, procedures, and practices used in the identification or placement to ensure that the policies, procedures, and practices comply with the requirements of the act;

     (b) Require any school district identified under this section to reserve the maximum amount of federal funds under WAC 392-172A-06085 to provide comprehensive coordinated early intervening services to serve students in the school district, particularly, but not exclusively, students in those groups that were significantly over identified; and

     (c) Require the school district to publicly report on the revision of policies, practices, and procedures described under (b) of this subsection.

To view Washington State Administrative Codes:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=392-172A-07040

Educating Black Youth from the National Education Association

Summary

As the nation enters its third year under the leadership of its first Black president, a man so well educated, his critics have labeled him an elitist, the numbers tell us many Black male students are more likely to hit the streets than the books. In just 2010 alone, the release of three high-profile research studies generated national debate on the academic prospects of Black boys. The statistics describing Black boys as more likely than their peers to be placed in special education classes, labeled mentally retarded, suspended from school, or drop out altogether is disturbing enough. But the surprising news, at once puzzling and promising, is that we actually have tools to reverse this trajectory and success stories to prove it.

Find the full article link on:

http://www.nea.org/home/42456.htm

Legal Rights: The Overrepresentation of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in Special Education

Kevin Werner

Abstract
This article discusses the laws that protect individuals with disabilities and the laws that protect individuals from racial and language discrimination. It explains the important difference between the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504. It also describes practical application of the laws and provides two examples that will help illustrate how these legal procedures might work in reality.

PDF version:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=16892023051175742283&hl=en&as_sdt=0,48&as_vis=1

Impact of Instructional Consultation Teams on the Disproportionate Referral and Placement of Minority Students in Special Education

Remedial and Special Education

A Journal on the Hammill Institute on Disabilities

Todd A. Gravois 

Abstract

The current study investigated the impact of implementing Instructional Consultation Teams (IC Teams) on the disproportionate referral and placement of minority students into special education. Data were collected on referral and placement patterns of minority students in 13 IC Teams schools and 9 comparison schools. Three accepted indices of disproportionality—including risk indexes, odds ratios, and composition indexes—were calculated and analyzed for the baseline and for 2 years of project implementation. After 2 years of implementation, there were significant decreases in the risk of minority students in IC Team project schools being referred to and placed in special education when compared to nonproject schools. Moreover, the odds of minority students' being referred and placed in special education decreased by almost half in IC Team schools. Similar decreases in IC Team schools were noted when analyzing the composition indexes. The current findings also highlight the influence that quality classroom instructional practices have on the referral and placement of minority students for special education services.

To purchase the full article:

http://rse.sagepub.com/content/27/1/42.short

Disproportionate Representation of African American Students in Special Education: Acknowledging the Role of White Privilege and Racism

Abstract

This article places the problem of disproportionate representation of African American students in special education in the context of the White privilege and racism that exist in American society as a whole. The author discusses how educational resource allocation, inappropriate curriculum and pedagogy, and inadequate teacher preparation have contributed to the problem of disproportionate representation. More important, she argues that remedies designed to address the disproportionality challenge must place the aforementioned structural forces at the center of education research, policy, and practice.

To purchase full article: 

http://edr.sagepub.com/content/35/6/24.short

Office for Civil Rights

Overview of the Agency
The mission of the Office for Civil Rights is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation through vigorous enforcement of civil rights.
We serve student populations facing discrimination and the advocates and institutions promoting systemic solutions to civil rights problems.  An important responsibility is resolving complaints of discrimination. Agency-initiated cases, typically called compliance reviews, permit OCR to target resources on compliance problems that appear particularly acute. OCR also provides technical assistance to help institutions achieve voluntary compliance with the civil rights laws that OCR enforces. An important part of OCR's technical assistance are partnerships designed to develop creative approaches to preventing and addressing discrimination.

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/aboutocr.html