Alfredo J. Artiles

Overrepresentation of Minority Students in Special Education A Continuing Debate

Approximately 25 years ago, Lloyd Dunn (1968) and Evelyn Deno (1970) provided us with analyses regarding the problems and pitfalls of special education. One of the primary areas of focus was the overrepresentation of minority and low-income students in programs for students with mild mental retardation. Unfortunately, this problem continues to hover over us today and has extended to other special education categories. Based on our analysis of the problem then and now, we extend the recommendations provided by advocates, educators, researchers, and policymakers.

Within-Group Diversity in Minority Disproportionate Representation: English Language Learners in Urban School Districts:

A weakness of research on minority placement in special education is the tendency to overestimate the homogeneity of populations by failing to disaggregate factors such as language proficiency or to consider other relevant variables, for example, social class or program type. Similarly, certain groups have been understudied, such as English language learners (ELLs). We addressed these gaps by examining ELL placement patterns in California urban districts. Disproportionate representation patterns were related to grade level, language proficiency status, disability category, type of special education program, and type of language support program. Students proficient in neither their native language nor in English (particularly in secondary grades) were most affected. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.

Justifying and Explaining Disproportionality 1968—2008: A Critique of Underlying Views of Culture

Special education has made considerable advances in research, policy, and practice in its short history. However, students from historically underserved groups continue to be disproportionately identified as requiring special education. Support for color-blind practices and policies can justify racial disproportionality in special education and signal a retrenchment to deficit views about students from historically underserved groups. We respond to these emerging concerns through an analysis of arguments that justify disproportionality. We also identify explanations of the problem and critique the views of culture that underlie these explanations. We conclude with a brief discussion of implications and future directions.

The Dilemma of Difference Enriching the Disproportionality Discourse with Theory and Context

A critical aspect underlying the disproportionate representation debate is the dilemma of human difference. I briefly describe this dilemma and analyze three unstated assumptions about difference that permeate disproportionality discussions. I also make two critical recommendations. First, we must strengthen the theoretical sophistication of the debate in two ways, by bringing philosophical and ethical perspectives to the analyses and by increasing the breadth of the theoretical paradigms used in inquiry efforts. Second, I recommend that we bring context to our research endeavors by acknowledging that issues related to ethnicity, race, and language background are highly contentious in our society. We must also contextualize research by including the perspectives of investigators and of ethnic minority students. This will allow us to become aware of the culturally situated meanings that we bring to our research endeavors and to appreciate the complexity in the lives of the people who participate in our investigations.

English Language Learners Who Struggle With Reading Language Acquisition or LD

We review empirical research on English language learners (ELLs) who struggle with reading and who may have learning disabilities (LD). We sought to determine research indicators that can help us better differentiate between ELLs who struggle to acquire literacy because of their limited proficiency in English and ELLs who have actual LD. We conclude that more research is warranted to further elucidate the strengths and learning needs of subgroups of underachieving ELLs, to help us determine who should qualify for special education, and to clarify why some ELLs who do not have LD still struggle with language and literacy acquisition. Future research should account for the complexities involved in becoming literate in another language and focus more on cultural and contextual factors that affect student achievement.

From deficit thinking to social constructivism: A review of theory, research, and practice in special education

Currently special education is in poor health. Plagued by criticisms about program efficacy, many educators, policymakers, and researchers now argue for changes in how students with disabilities are educated. In the midst of heated debates about redefining current practices, social constructivism has emerged as a theory that has the potential to make instruction in special education more holistic and relevant and emphasize more the strengths and knowledge that children bring to the classroom setting. While we do not elevate social constructivism as a cure for the complex problems now facing the field, we do believe that instruction emanating from social constructivist theory can inform instructional practices and can contribute to improved learning outcomes for children with disabilities. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to outline the emerging contributions that social constructivism has made to the field of special education, specifically in the area of literacy instruction for students with mild disabilities. We focus on literacy because of its central importance in the education of students, particularly those with disabilities. In addition, we limit the discussion to the mild disabilities group because it is the largest segment of the special education population in the United States. In the first section, we contextualize the significance of social constructivism by offering a historical sketch of the evolution of special education social organization. We emphasize that this summary is not an exhaustive account of historical periods or events, nor is it an indictment against instructional approaches derived from a deficit perspective. Rather, our goal is to illustrate how special education has relied too heavily on deficit thinking and must now enhance existing practices with alternative approaches that consider the sociocultural contexts in which children with disabilities learn. We next summarize some basic theoretical principles

The Miner’s Canary: A Review of Overrepresentation Research and Explanations

The authors reviewed the overrepresentation research published between 1968 and 2006 to answer two questions: (a) What are the characteristics of overrepresentation studies? (b) How do studies frame the problem? Systematic procedures were used to search four international databases, and criteria were applied to identify relevant studies. Findings suggest that overrepresentation research has been mostly published in special education journals, the number of studies has increased over time (particularly since 2000), most overrepresentation research focused on the learning disabilities category and on African Americans, and most studies used quantitative designs. Overrepresentation research has been framed in three ways: a sociodemographic model in which characteristics of individuals and contexts are examined, a critical perspective in which power issues related to race are addressed, and a framework that examines the role of various professional practices in the creation and maintenance of overrepresentation . Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.

Toward an Interdisciplinary Understanding of Educational Equity and Difference: The Case of the Racialization of Ability

The author argues for an interdisciplinary perspective to study the complexities of educational equity and transcend the limits of previous research. He focuses on the racialization of disability as a case in point; specifically, he reviews the visions of justice that inform the scholarship on racial and ability differences and situates their interlocking in a historical perspective to illustrate how race and ability differences have elicited paradoxical educational responses. The author also examines how the convergence of contemporary reforms is creating fluid markers of difference that change meanings across contexts, thus having distinct consequences for students’ identities and schools’ responses. He concludes with an outline of guiding ideas for interdisciplinary research on inequities that emerge at the intersections of race and ability differences.

Learning in inclusive education research: Re-mediating theory and methods with a transformative agenda

This is the authors accepted manuscript. The original publication is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0091732X030001065.

Inclusion as Social Justice: Critical Notes on Discourses, Assumptions, and the Road Ahead.

The purpose of this article is to discuss critically the idea of inclusion as social justice. The authors outline the multiple discourses on inclusion and the disparate meanings of social justice that permeate the inclusive education literature. They assume that greater conceptual clarity will strengthen ongoing reform efforts and help educators understand better the intersection of inclusion and social justice in educational systems that serve culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. A more comprehensive treatment of the idea of inclusive education as social justice will enable educators to prevent the historical inequities that have affected CLD students.