TY - JOUR
T1 - How and Why Context Matters in the Study of Racial Disproportionality in Special Education
T2 - Toward a Critical Disability Education Policy Approach
AU - Tefera, Adai A.
AU - Fischman, Gustavo E.
N1 - Funding Information:
The first author is deeply grateful to her colleagues Alfredo J. Artiles, Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides, Alexandra Aylward, and Sarah Diaz for their collaboration on this research project. She also is thankful to the William T. Grant Foundation for their support of this study (Grant #184607).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Education.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Racial disproportionality in special education is an ongoing injustice in schools in the United States. In this article, we investigate the key relationships among education policy, context, and racial disproportionality in special education. We examine this nexus by analyzing one U.S. school district’s response to federal citations for disproportionality in both the over-identification of students of color in special education and over-representation of students of color with disabilities being disciplined. Our findings demonstrate the important role of historical legacies of inequality and the limitations of technical approaches to equity oriented education policies. We end by offering a critical disability education policy approach that accounts for complex sociocultural contexts, attending to disability and its intersections, in an effort to move toward more just and equitable education policies.
AB - Racial disproportionality in special education is an ongoing injustice in schools in the United States. In this article, we investigate the key relationships among education policy, context, and racial disproportionality in special education. We examine this nexus by analyzing one U.S. school district’s response to federal citations for disproportionality in both the over-identification of students of color in special education and over-representation of students of color with disabilities being disciplined. Our findings demonstrate the important role of historical legacies of inequality and the limitations of technical approaches to equity oriented education policies. We end by offering a critical disability education policy approach that accounts for complex sociocultural contexts, attending to disability and its intersections, in an effort to move toward more just and equitable education policies.
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U2 - 10.1080/10665684.2020.1791284
DO - 10.1080/10665684.2020.1791284
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85098932783
SN - 1066-5684
VL - 53
SP - 434
EP - 449
JO - Equity and Excellence in Education
JF - Equity and Excellence in Education
IS - 4
ER -