Evidence of ethnic disproportionality in special education in an english population

Journal of Special Education

Volumn 43, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 174-190

  Strand, Steve ^a   Lindsay, Geoff ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Disproportionality; Ethnic group; Identification; Overrepresentation; Special education; Special educational needs

Indexed keywords

EID: 70350521566     PISSN: 00224669     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0022466908320461     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. Artiles, A.J., Aguirre-Munoz, Z., & Abedi, J. (1998). Predicting placement in learning disabilities programs: Do predictors vary by ethnic group? Exceptional Children, 64, 543-549.
2. Artiles, A.J., Rueda, R., Salazar, J.J., & Higareda, I. (2005). Within-group diversity in minority disproportionate representation: English language learners in urban school districts. Exceptional Children, 71, 283-300.
3. Audit Commission. (2002). Special educational needs. London: Author.
4. Blanchett, W.J. (2006). Disproportionate representation of African American pupils in special education: Acknowledging the role of White privilege and racism. Educational Researcher, 35, 24-38.
5. Coard, B. (1971). How the West Indian child is made educationally subnormal in the British school system: The scandal of the Black child in schools in Britain. London: New Beacon for the Caribbean Education and Community Workers' Association.
6. Committee of Inquiry Into the Education of Children From Ethnic Minority Groups. (1981). West Indian children in our schools: Interim report of the Committee of Inquiry Into the Education of Children From Minority Ethnic Groups. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
7. Committee of Inquiry Into the Education of Children From Ethnic Minority Groups. (1985). Education for all: Report of the Committee of Inquiry Into the Education of Children From Ethnic Minority Groups (Cmnd 9453). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
8. Coutinho, M.J., & Oswald, D.P. (2000). Disproportionate representation in special education: A synthesis and recommendations. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 9, 135-156.
9. Coutinho, M.J., & Oswald, D.P. (2005). State variation in gender disproportionality in special education. Remedial & Special Education, 26(1), 7-15.
10. Demie, F. (2005). Achievement of Black Caribbean pupils: Good practice in Lambeth schools. British Educational Research Journal, 31, 481-508.
11. Department for Education and Skills. (2001). Special educational needs code of practice. Nottingham, UK: DfES Publications.
12. Department for Education and Skills. (2003). Data collection by type of special educational needs (DfES/0200/2003). London: Author.
13. Department for Education and Skills. (2005, January). Special educational needs in England (SFR24/2005). London: Author.
14. Department for Education and Skills. (2006). Ethnicity and education. Retrieved June 24, 2007, from http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/DFES-0208-2006.pdf.
15. Donovan, M. S., & Cross, C. T. (Eds.). (2002). Minority students in special and gifted education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
16. Drews, C.D., Yeargin-Allsopp, M., Decouflé, P., & Murphy, C. (1995). Variation in the influence of selected sociodemographic risk factors for mental retardation. American Journal of Public Health, 85, 329-334.
17. Dunn, L.M. (1968). Special education for the mildly retarded-Is much of it justifiable? Exceptional Children, 23, 5-21.
18. Durkin, M.S., Khan, N.Z., Davidson, L.L., Huq, S., Munir, S., & Rasul, E.,et al.(2000). Prenatal and postnatal risk factors for mental retardation among children in Bangladesh. American Journal of Epidemiology, 152, 1024-1033.
19. Education Act 1996 (1996 c. 56). Available athttp://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1996/Ukpga_19960056_en_1.
20. Eitle, T.L.M. (2002). Special education or racial segregation: Understanding variation in the representation of Black students in educable mentally handicapped programs. Sociological Quarterly, 43, 575-605.
21. Freedman, D. (1999). Ecological inference and the ecological fallacy. International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioural Sciences, 6, 4027-4040.
22. Gillborn, D. (1990). Race, ethnicity and education: Teaching and learning in multi-ethnic schools. London: Unwin Hyman.
23. Green, H., McGinnity, A., Meltzer, H., Ford, T., & Goodman, K. (2005). Mental health of children in Great Britain, 2004. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
24. Harry, B., & Klingner, J. (2006). Why are so many minority students in special education? London: Teacher College Press.
25. Hosp, J.L., & Reschly, D.J. (2004). Disproportionate representation of minority students in special education: Academic, demographic and economic predictors. Exceptional Children, 70, 185-199.
26. House of Commons, Education and Skills Committee (2006). Special educational needs, 3rd report of session 2005-2006 (HC 478-1). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
27. KewalRamani, A., Gilbertson, L., Fox, M.A., & Provasnik, S. (2007). Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic minorities. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Educational Statistics.
28. Knotec, S. (2003). Bias in problem solving and the social process of student study teams: A qualitative investigation. Journal of Special Education, 37, 2-14.
29. Kramer, R.A., Allen, L., & Gergen, P.J. (1995). Health and social characteristics and children's cognitive functioning: Results from a national cohort. American Journal of Public Health, 85, 312-318.
30. Lindsay, G., & Muijs, D. (2006). Challenging underachievement in boys. Educational Research, 48, 313-332.
31. Lindsay, G., Pather, S., & Strand, S. (2006). Special educational needs and ethnicity: Issues of over- and under-representation (Research Report RR757). Nottingham, UK: Department for Education and Skills.
32. MacMillan, D.L., & Reschly, D.J. (1998). Overrepresentation of minority students: The case for greater specificity and reconsideration of the variables examined. Journal of Special Education, 32, 15-24.
33. Mir, G., Nocon, A., Ahmad, W., & Jones, L. (2001). Learning difficulties and ethnicity: Report to the Department of Health. London: Department of Health.
34. Moon, N., & Ivins, C. (2004). Parental involvement in children's education (Research Report RR589). Nottingham, UK: Department for Education and Skills.
35. Morton, R., Sharma, V., Nicholson, M., Broderick, M., & Poyser, J. (2002). Disability in children from ethnic populations. Child Care, Health and Development, 28, 87-93.
36. Newacheck, P.W., Stein, R.E.K., Bauman, L., & Hung, Y.-Y. (2003). Disparities in the prevalence of disability between Black and White children. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 157, 244-248.
37. Norusis, M.J. (2005). SPSS 14.0: Advanced statistical procedures companion. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
38. O'Connor, C., & Fernandez, S. (2006). Race, class and disproportionality: Reevaluating the relationship between poverty and special education placement. Educational Researcher, 35, 6-11.
39. Osler, A., Watling, R., Busher, H., Cole, T., & White, A. (2001). Reasons for exclusion from school (Research Report 244). Nottingham, UK: Department for Education and Skills.
40. Oswald, D.P., Coutinho, M.J., Best, A.M., & Singh, N.N. (1999). Ethnic representation in special education: The influence of school-related economics and demographic variables. Journal of Special Education, 32, 194-206.
41. Parrish, T. (2002). Racial disparities in the identification, funding, and provision of special education. In D. J. Losen & G. Orfield (Eds.), Racial inequality in special education (pp. 15-37). Cambridge MA: Harvard Civil Rights Project.
42. Parsons, C., Godfrey, R., Annan, G., Cornwall, J., Dussart, M., & Hepburn, S.,et al.(2005). Minority ethnic exclusions and the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 (Research Brief No. RB616). London: Department for Education and Skills.
43. Phillips, M., Crouse, J., & Ralph, J. (1998). Does the Black-White test score gap widen after children enter school? In C. Jencks & M. Philips (Eds.), The Black-White test score gap (pp. 229-272). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
44. Reid, D.K., & Knight, M.G. (2006). Disability justifies exclusion of minority students: A critical history grounded in disability studies. Educational Researcher, 35, 18-23.
45. Robinson, W.S. (1950). Ecological correlations and the behavior of individuals. American Sociological Review, 15, 351-357.
46. Saxena, S., Eliahoo, J., & Majeed, A. (2002). Socioeconomic and ethnic group differences in self reported health studies and use of health services by children and young people in England: Cross sectional study. British Medical Journal, 325, 520-525.
47. Shenkman, E., Vogel, B., Brooks, R., Wegener, D.H., & Naff, R. (2001). Race and ethnicity and the identification of special needs children. Health Care Financing Review, 23, 35-51.
48. Skiba, R.J., Poloni-Staudinger, L., Simmons, A.B., Feggins-Azziz, L.R., & Chung, C. (2005). Unproven links: Can poverty explain ethnic disproportionality in special education? Journal of Special Education, 39, 130-144.
49. Skiba, R., Simmons, A., Ritter, S., Kohler, K., Henderson, M., & Wu, T. (2006). The context of minority disproportionality: Practitioner perspectives on special education referral. Teachers College Record, 108, 1424-1459.
50. Skiba, R., Simmons, A., Ritter, S., Rausch, M.K., Feggins, L., Gallini, S.,et al.(2004). Moving towards equity: Addressing disproportionality in special education in Indiana. Bloomington, IN: Center for Evaluation and Education Policy.
51. Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. (2007). Annual report 2005/2006. London: Author.
52. Spencer, N. (1996). Poverty and child health. Oxford, UK: Medical Press.
53. Strand, S. (1999). Ethnic group, sex and economic disadvantage: Associations with pupils' educational progress from baseline to the end of Key Stage 1. British Educational Research Journal, 25, 179-202.
54. Strand, S. (2004). The use of effect sizes: Two examples from recent educational research. In I. Schagen & K. Elliot (Eds.), But what does it mean? The use of effect sizes in educational research (pp. 42-54). Slough, UK: National Foundation for Educational Research.
55. Strand, S. (2007). Minority ethnic pupils in the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (Research Report 851/2007). Nottingham, UK: Department for Education and Skills.
56. Tikly, L., Haynes, J., Caballero, C., Hill, J., & Gillborn, D. (2006). Evaluation of Aiming High: African Caribbean achievement project (Research Report RR801). Nottingham, UK: Department for Education and Skills.
57. U.S. Census Bureau. (2006). Income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States: 2005 (P60-231). Retrieved July 7, 2007, from http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p60-231.pdf.
58. Weinstein, R.S., Gregory, A., & Strambler, M.J. (2004). Intractable self-fulfilling prophecies: Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education. American Psychologist, 59, 511-520.
59. Yoong, S., & Spencer, N. (2005). Audit of local performance compared with standards recommended by the national guidelines for aetiologic investigation of permanent childhood hearing impairment. Child Care, Health and Development, 31, 649- 657.
60. Yoong, S.Y., Feltbower, R., Spencer, N., & McKinney, P.A. (2005). Families affected by deafness: Hospital services uptake in a multiethnic population. Archives of Diseases in Childhood, 90, 454-459.