Enhancing the Study of Disproportionality in Special Education: An Event History Analysis Across Districts in California

• In Event: Context and Special Education Disproportionality: A Look at Racial Equity Policies in Special Education

Abstract

Racial and ethnic disproportionality in special education is moderated by social context, including racial/ethnic composition, teacher racial composition, school size, school socioeconomic composition, and teachers’ perceptions of school climate; these contextual effects are particularly salient for the classification of Black students. For example, scholars found that Black and Latino/a/x students in schools with more students of color are proportionately less likely to be placed in special education (Elder et al., 2021; Fish, 2019; Shifrer & Fish, 2020). These studies provide a more nuanced picture of where disproportionality is acute and where to target supports. However, we know less about how context moderates a district’s response to a citation for disproportionality under IDEA, although additional recent scholarship indicates that the likelihood of receiving a citation and transitioning off of a citation varies by locale and changing demographics (Aylward et al., 2021; Voulgarides & Aylward, 2023).

Two recent studies show that how school stakeholders interpret the purpose, scope, and intent of IDEA racial equity policy and leverage resources to monitor and address inequities varies by context (Tefera et al., 2023; Voulgarides et al., 2021). We expand this prior research by investigating how relevant contextual factors contribute to both the likelihood of receiving a citation under IDEA and transitioning off a citation within the large and diverse state of California.
Using event history methodology, we demonstrate how district-level social contextual factors are associated with the issuance of federal citations for disproportionality in special education during the 2010-2011 to 2021-22 school years among districts within California, including during the COVID pandemic. The California Department of Education provided restricted data on citations, and California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System and the CCD Elementary/Secondary Information System provided contextual variables.

Preliminary analyses indicate substantial variation between and within locales, both in the likelihood of receiving a citation and remediation of a citation. Additionally, district racial composition increased the likelihood of a district being cited under IDEA.

This paper is significant because it demonstrates how social context moderates the response of districts to disproportionality, operationalized by a citation under IDEA. We present our findings in relation to the potential for more intentional policy responses that consider district contextual factors.

Authors

• Alexandra Aylward, University of Nevada - Reno

• Rebecca A. Cruz, Johns Hopkins University