Ensuring Equal Opportunity and Access Through Policy: Is the Promise Enough? Examining Persistent Racial Inequities in Special Education

• In Event: 16.060 - Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: 16.060-1 - Academic Inclusion or Exclusion? Examining Research on School Laws and Policies Affecting At-Risk Students

Abstract

This paper is about racial disproportionality in special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It explores the tension between technical understandings and application of IDEA and the sociocultural contexts within which policy is appropriated to practice. The authors conducted twenty interviews with practitioners in a suburban school district in the Northeastern United States. Data analysis revealed: 1) Sociodemographic changes within a school district contribute to disproportionate outcomes; 2) The premise of equal opportunity, deeply embedded in IDEA legislation and colorblind ideology, dominate practice and contribute to racial outcomes; 3) Policy and local actions mutually influence each other to reproduce disproportionality. The findings show historical, political, economic and social contexts need to be considered when addressing the issue.

Authors

• Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides, Touro College

• Adai A. Tefera, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Sarah Alvarado Diaz, Arizona State University - Tempe

• Alfredo J. Artiles, Arizona State University

• Lisa Jackson, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Alexandra Aylward, New York University