How Effectively Do Educators Engage in Dialogue About Racial Disproportionality in Special Education?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: Special Education, Special Needs, and Disproportionality Related to Race, Gender, and Empowerment

Abstract

The purpose of this single case study was to examine district practices related to reducing the overrepresentation of Black Students in the Mental Retardation/Intellectual Disability eligibility category due to inappropriate identification by examining learning processes and dissemination of knowledge. The data revealed the impact of dialogue on knowledge creation and the difficulty teachers have in discussing race. Implications could assist school leaders in implementing strategies to circumvent their districts being identified as significantly racially disproportionate in special education.

Authors

• Jill Brown, Blue Springs School District

• Barbara Nell Martin, University of Central Missouri