Minority Student Representation in Special

Education and Gifted

Katherine Perez Iris Viera Ailin Sanchez

CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY

FASP MISSION STATEMENT The guiding principle of this committee is to promote understanding, tolerance and sensitivity among all cultural groups. Our goal is to create awareness that cultural differences should not be regarded as disadvantages, deficiencies, or disabilities. We recognize that each individual is a unique human being.Thus, regardless of the educational problem presented by a student, his/her cultural and/or linguistic background may be a major component of the problem, a minor contributing factor, or another characteristic of his/her individuality (http://www.fasp.org).

Sora sono ________

The Sky is _______

空ある _______

Special Education: Minority

Overrepresentation

HistoryIn the 1960s, minority students were placed in special education classes as a way to get around desegregation in schools.In the 1970s, data collected from the Office of Civil Rights, showed that minority students were being improperly placed in special education classes. In the 1980s, overrepresentation of minority students in special education classes continued to be a problem despite litigation and awareness of the issue. (Artiles & Trent, 1994).

Important Legislation

Hobson v. Hansen (1967)—Track systems, which used standardized tests as a basis for special education, were outlawed because there were numerous counts of misuse with minorities and poor children. Diana v. State Board of Education (1970)—Children cannot be placed in special education on the basis of culturally biased tests. Also, children cannot be placed in special education because the tests given to them were not in their native language.Larry P. v. Riles (1979)—California class-action case that focused on IQ testing of young black children, and argued that those children had been inappropriately placed in Educable Mentally Retarded (EMR) classrooms solely on the basis of an IQ score.

Racial Ratios in Special Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) 1990 Survey Black students constituted 10% of the school general enrollment25% of total MMR enrollment were blacks

Formula: Total number of blacks classified with

MMR__ Total number of students classified with MMR(MacMillan & Reschly, 1998)

Representation of Students in Special Education (1992)70%

65%

12% 2

5%

13%

8%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

White AfricanAmerican

HispanicAmerican

Regular Education

ExceptionalEducation

Factors for overrepresentation of minority in Special Education

Subjective judgmentsMild diagnosis most commonly assigned (e.g. Mild Mental Retardation (MMR))Based on contextual factors (MacMillan & Reschly, 1998).

Why is overrepresentation a problem?

Stigma associated with specific labels.People tend to have both strong and negative attitude towards categories like MR and SED (Serious emotional disturbance).

UnintelligentUnderachieverUnqualified

Negative labels consequences in children self-esteem and self worth (MacMillan & Reschly, 1998 & Valles, 1998).

Negative perceptions on performance across ethnic groups.

High incident of labels reinforce negative portrayals and stereotypes of minority groups. (Valles, 1998).

Academic problems linked to disabilities.Student problems may be associated to low SES, cultural or linguistic background when the presenting problem is biologically based (Thomas & Grimes, 2002).

Gifted Education:Underrepresentation of

Minorities

Underrepresentation of Minorities in Gifted

African American, American Indian, and Hispanic American student under represented (Ford, 1998)White and Asian over represented

States are not required to have gifted programs.It is difficult to regulate equality in gifted programs when it’s not even a mandated educational program Daniels, 1998).

1992 Statistics on Distribution of Students Within School System

1.0%

72.4

%

13.7

%

4.0%

21.1

%

60.0

%

12.0

%

7.9%

0.5%

7.0%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

Whit

e

Afr

ican

Am

eri

can

His

panic

Am

eri

can

Asi

an

Am

eri

can

Nati

veAm

eri

can

Percentageof Populationin School

Percentageof PopulationWithin Gifted

Different definitions of gifted across districtsmeans one child can be identified as giftedin one state or district, but not in another (Ford, 1998).

Different Criteria for Gifted

It was only until 1993 that the U.S. Department of Education set a culturally diverse definition of giftedness.Before that most state adopted the 1978 definition which did not mention equality or diversity (Ford, 1998).

REASONS:Why the disproportion?

Low SES Poverty levels positively predict children with LD and restrictive placement (Gilan & Kelman, 1997). Lack of resources (McGray & Garcia, 2002).Limited funds available for different programs, ex: special ed, honors, gifted, computer assistant programs)

Poor quality of teachers (e.g. use of substitute teachers/uncertified) (Barona, Barona & Faykus, 1993 and Patton, 1998).

Validity of Assessment Process

Controversy about IQ test.

Minority population differs from the norm for which tests were createdIndividuals’ background and SES status influence scores

WISC-R weakness (Thomas & Grimes, 2002).

Focuses on classification and lacks strength on interventions

Lack of Cultural Awareness

Questioned efficacy of assessment/identification practices among culturally diverse learners Professional inattention to students’ cultural and racial differences (McGray & Garcia, 2002)Little information about curricular approaches toward culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. (Thomas & Grimes, 2002)All non-white groups classified under same category. (Ford, 1998).

Biased Teachers and Assessors

86% of teachers are white as compared to only 60% of the student population.Cultural differences in behavior and learning styles may equal more referralsLanguage differences interferes with communication and understandingLack of diversity among selection committees increases selection of minority student for special education (Ford, 1998)

Erroneous BeliefsJensen (1969) and others published books and articles about the genetic inferiority of minorities

Minority students intellectually inferiorMinority students have cultural deficits that contribute to poor performance

In a 1984 survey, more than 50% of the 661 measurement experts reported that differences in intelligence and aptitude tests between African Americans and White students were due to genetic factors (Ford, 1998).

Untrained Teachers/Assessors

Few teachers, school counselors, and psychologists sufficiently trained to identify special education or gifted students (Ford,1998)

Poor training in minority and cultural variations and styles.

Parent InvolvementMinority parents are less likely to be involved in the school system and are less likely to be informed about alternatives (Daniels, 1998).Some minority parents are unable to help the child effectively with homework (if the are working too many jobs or are not proficient in the language)Many states use parent referral as a means of identifying gifted students. However, many of these forms are too complex and parents with language difficulties or little educational background may find it difficult (Ford, 1998).

UnderachievementStudents who are put at a level which is below their cognitive capacity are not challengedLess learning occurs when teacher expectations are lower: Self fulfilling prophesy (Patton, 1998).Fear of segregation discourages students from achieving higher academic goals (Daniels, 1998).

Insufficient ResearchNot enough research directly addressing minoritiesLittle research and assessment measures made by minority professionals (Patton, 1998).

Research Articles on Gifted Students

87%

1%6%5%

1%

Not AddressingMinoritiesAmerican Indian

African American

Asian American

Hispanic American

Recommendationsfor

Improvements

Early Recommendations Reforms in the systemic procedures: diagnosis, placement, and instruction. MainstreamingIntensive special education training for teachers (Dunn, 1968)

Current Recommendations

Cultural Diversity Training 

Include diversity, culturally relevant methods, strategies and knowledge about second language in teacher training programs that deal with curriculum, classroom management and assessment methods.

Regulation of ReferralsThe National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) is advocating the practice of pre-referral intervention (Artiles & Trent, 1994).

Unbiased Concept Refinement

More attention to concept refinement and its dissemination are desperately needed to start developing conceptual frameworks that would enable us to elucidate the complex interactions among culture, learning, disability, and instructional outcomes.

More minority involvement in education research and assessment creation

Greater emphasis should be placed on the recruitment of minority individuals to pursue careers in teaching and educational research (Artiles & Trent, 1994).

Support Services for Minorities and Disadvantaged Children

Minority students and low SES students have been linked to lower achievement and placement in Special EducationTherefore, providing these groups with information and training them adaptive skills (e.g. time management and studying strategies) may improve their academic achievement (Ford, 1998).

Family Involvement Crucial

Including parents in the academic program will help the minority child achieve more.Information and assessment instruments for parents must be culturally sensitive as well as sensitive to all reading levels and linguistic abilities.

Equal participation and access of resources is necessary

Multiple Resources for Assessment

Collecting forms of assessment that measure not only measure quantity, but also quality and measure objectively as well as subjectively.

Studies have demonstrated that minority students tend learn differently (e.g. African American students tend to be intuitive learners rather than field dependant learners) Quantitative tests are not as valid with them (Ford, 1998).Factors other than intellectual or cognitive abilities influence academic performance, therefore these should be given importance during the evaluation for placement.

I have so many sources of assessment! Now I

am more confident I am making the right

decision!

Use Valid and Reliable Instruments to Measure

Cognitive AbilityWoodcock-Johnson Revised (WJ-R) (Thomas & Grimes, 2002).

Theoretically basedMeasures cognitive abilityBatteries of tests created to fit empirically supported theory

Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) (Naglieri & Das, 1997).

CAS does not include tests of verbal skills CAS does not include tests of achievement

CAS links assessment to intervention

Raven’s MatricesRaven’s Matrices effective at identifying gifted minority (Ford, 1998).

It is not based in previously learned materialMeasures cognitive ability by presenting missing patterns in series