Racialized and Administrative Burdens in IDEA: Examining the Experiences of Im/migrant and Refugee Families

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Immigrant Students and Intersectional Inequality

Abstract

Scholars, policymakers, and educators continue to grapple with racial inequities in special education. Research documents the ways minoritized students with disabilities and their families struggle to access key equity levers within education policies. Families of children with disabilities are often hampered by administrative burdens, which can affect students' educational outcomes. These barriers weigh more heavily on families of color, im/migrant and working-class families and their children. Yet, little is known about the consequential administrative burdens embedded within special education policies and practices that im/migrant multilingual families who have children with disabilities experience. In this study, we examine administrative burdens embedded within special education policies and practices that contribute to racial inequities for im/migrant multilingual families and their children with disabilities.

Authors

• Adai A. Tefera, University of Arizona

• Melissa J. Cuba, University of Maine