A Synthesis of Research on White Teachers' Color-Blind Racism and Black Students in Special Education

• In Event: Examining the Mass Incarceration, Intersectionalities, and Carceral State of Special Education for Black Children

Abstract

This paper will use Bonilla-Silva’s (2003) colorblind racism theory to review and
analyze existing literature on White teachers’ perspectives regarding race and schooling to
illustrate how colorblind rationalities influence the overrepresentation and misidentification of Black students in special education -- leading to a carceral state of education. Students in special
education are more likely to drop out of secondary school and have higher rates of criminal accusations levied against them, leading to higher incarceration rates (Blackorby, Schiller, E., Mallik, S., Hebbeler, K., Huang, T., Javitz, H., & Williamson, C, 2010; Aron & Loprest; 2012). Teachers, counselors, and administrators have a part in determining special education referrals, however, the teacher is the adult with the most contact and influence over children on a daily basis. Bonilla-Silva’s (2003) definition of colorblind racism consists of four frames. Each frame is used to interpret (or misinterpret) racial phenomena: Abstract liberalism, Naturalization, Cultural racism, and the minimization of racism removes discrimination as a central factor in the interpretation of the current standing of people of color (Bonilla-Silva, 2003).

Given that Bonilla-Silva’s (2003) colorblind racism frames will guide this literature
review of White teachers, colorblind racism, Black students, and special education, the beginning date for published literature will be set at 2003. We set the end date to 2018 to include the most recent scholarship related to White teachers. We utilized electronic databases such as EBSCO, JStor, ERIC, Academic Search Premier, and Google Scholar to conduct our search. The search terms used in these databases were: White teacher special education, White teacher special
education overrepresentation, White teacher special education misidentification, White teacher special education disability, White teacher special education discipline, and Boolean versions of these terms. The literature related to White teachers in special education at the elementary and secondary education levels reviewed for this paper illustrates the array of colorblind ideologies present in White teacher perspectives across disciplines in education. This review included research that examined perspectives from samples of all special education teachers, samples that
were a mix of special and general education teachers, and mixed samples of students in teacher education programs that included those who intended to become special educators. Each of four colorblind racist ideologies: minimization of race, abstract liberalism, cultural racism, and naturalization, were present in some form throughout all of the studies. The majority of the studies used qualitative research methodologies.

In this paper we examined White teacher perspectives on race and schooling in the
extant research in special education to identify colorblind racist attitudes that serve to exacerbate the overrepresentation and misidentification of Black students for special educations services thereby contributing to disproportionate representation and the inclusion of Black students in the
carceral state (Wun, 2017). Student focused research is essential to understanding ways in which educators and scholars can make necessary changes in educational practice and policy to improve experiences and outcomes for students of color.

Authors

• Julia Camille Ransom, Pearson Education, Inc.

• Crystal Menzies, Learning Research & Development Center