What is disproportionality explained?

Disproportionality is the overrepresentation of a specific race or ethnicity identified in one or more of four areas: identification of a disability in general; identification of a specific race or ethnicity in a specific disability category; discipline; and placement.

What is the concept of disproportionality?

The term disproportionate means unequal or out of proportion. Although there are discrepancies in many areas, disproportionality in special education is generally referring to racial and ethnic discrepancies that exist in the identification, placement, and discipline of students with disabilities.

What is the problem with disproportionality?

Why Is Disproportionality a Problem? When schools have higher numbers of certain ethnic or minority students enrolled in special education that they should have by statistical standards, it signals the possibility that some of the students may not be truly disabled and may have been incorrectly identified.

What are the three components of disproportionality?

“Significant disproportionality” refers to three separate but related trends that impact a student's educational experience: (1) identification for special education (also called eligibility); (2) educational placement (once identified as eligible for special education); and (3) discipline.

What is an example of disproportionality in special education?

The Impact of Disproportionality in Special Education

For example, students of color identified for special education programs often get placed in separate classrooms or receive more discipline than their classmates, as reported by The Century Foundation (TCF).

Critical Concept: Disproportionality

Why is disproportionality an issue in special education?

Research suggests that a child's race and ethnicity significantly influence the probability that he or she will be misidentified as needing special education. This mis-identification can have immediate and long term negative effects.

How do you determine disproportionality?

What causes disproportionality?

Disproportionality occurs when students are: Overrepresented in special education services due to inappropriate referrals to special education. Overrepresentation can occur in classification, placement, and suspension.

What contributes to disproportionality?

Factors contributing to disproportionality include cultural bias, a fearful agency climate, communication barriers, ineffective service delivery, and workforce issues.

Why does disproportionality happen?

There are various factors which cause disproportionality that are not only tied to the way the system is structured but also to the existing policies, practices, and mindsets of the individuals engaged in student placement and discipline at various levels.

How do you address disproportionality in special education?

To address racial disproportionality in special education, it is important to address bias and cultural differences in the special education process, ensure that referrals for special education are based on objective criteria, and provide appropriate support and services to all students who need them.

What is the difference between disparity and disproportionality?

While disproportionality refers to the state of being out of proportion, disparity refers to a state of being unequal. Disparity occurs when the ratio of one racial or ethnic group in an event is not equal to the ratio of another racial or ethnic group who experienced the same event.

Are black children disproportionately overrepresented in special education?

The debate over over representation in special education

The most credible studies allow researchers to control for a rich set of student-level characteristics, rather than using data aggregated to the district level, and firmly establish that blacks are disproportionately under-represented.

What is the root cause analysis for disproportionality?

Root Cause Analysis is a process school districts, regional/county organizations, and state departments of education use to identify the basis for the disproportionality. Stakeholders triangulate and analyze multiple data points to discern patterns of behavior and determine impetus for the disproportionality.

What happens if there is a determination of significant disproportionality?

Once identified as Significantly Disproportionate, the LEA is required to take mandatory actions including, but not limited to, reserving 15 percent of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds to develop and implement a Compliance and Improvement Monitoring (CIM) for CCEIS action plan and provide ...

What is disproportionality in the justice system?

A distressing aspect of the U.S. prison population is the high degree of disproportionality in incarceration rates for blacks compared to whites, with a ratio of about seven to one.

What is ethnic disproportionality?

The over-representation of people from minority ethnic communities in the youth justice system is referred to as ethnic disproportionality.

Is disproportionality a word?

The earliest known use of the noun disproportionality is in the mid 1600s. OED's earliest evidence for disproportionality is from 1642, in the writing of Henry More, philosopher, poet, and theologian. disproportionality is formed within English, by derivation.

What is disproportionality in social work?

Within the context of the child welfare system, disproportionality occurs when the proportion of one racial or ethnic group in the child welfare population (for example, children in foster care) is proportionately larger than the proportion of the same group in the general child population.

What is an example of disproportionality?

For example, in 2000 Black children made up 15.1 percent of the children in this country but 36.6 percent of the children in the child welfare system. Unequal treatment when comparing a racial or ethnic minority to a non-minority.

How can we reduce disproportionality in special education?

One strategy for preventing disproportionality is to bolster prevention efforts by ensuring provision of high- quality, rigorous curriculum and behavioral supports, conducting universal academic and social-emotional screening to identify students at risk for difficulties, and providing evidence-based interventions ...

What is disproportionality in discipline in schools?

Research on school discipline disparities has demonstrated three key trends across the country: Black students are more likely than White students to be referred for disciplinary action for subjective infractions such as disruption or defiance compared to objective infractions such as tardiness or truancy.

Why are minorities disproportionately diagnosed with learning disabilities?

Many researchers are concerned that disproportionate identification of racial/ethnic minorities with learning disabilities is part of the long history of racism and stratification within education (Patton 1998; Skiba et al. 2008). Some attribute disproportionality to blatant educator racism (Anderson 1997; Skiba et al.

What are some of the consequences of disproportionate representation in special education?

There are many potential consequences of the disproportionate representation in special education. These students may have lower graduation rates, be stereotyped, and suffer from lower self-esteem.

Why are so many minorities in special education?

Research indicates that factors such as test bias, poverty, poor general education instruction, and insufficient professional development for working with diverse students can cause this overrepresentation.