From The Washington Post:
Blacks make up one-fifth of the student population in both Montgomery and Anne Arundel county public schools. But they make up two-fifths of the group labeled mentally retarded.
The two Maryland school systems are among five that face state sanctions because they steer too many struggling black students into special education with problems that, in a number of cases, could be addressed in a regular classroom, according to federal education officials. Starting this
summer, the systems must spend a combined $8 million a year on efforts to reduce the number of black students in special-ed.
Young black students with academic or behavioral problems tend to wind up in special education, educators say, based on a teacher's impulse to place such children where they will get the most help. Special-ed classes are staffed at a far lower student-to-teacher ratio than regular classes.
But some black parents and others have accused school systems across the country of using special education, a federally subsidized program tailored for children with documented disabilities, as a dumping ground for disruptive black children. The Education Department found that, in 2003, although about 15 percent of all students ages 6 to 21 were black, they made up 20 percent of all special-education students and 34 percent of those labeled mentally retarded in
that age range.
More statistics:
The five counties were cited because black students were overrepresented in three areas of special education: first, the counties had a disproportionate share of black students in special-education as a whole; second, blacks were disproportionately likely to be placed in separate special-ed classrooms rather than "mainstreamed" with the general student population; and third, blacks in special education were particularly likely to be suspended.
Eighteen of the 24 school systems in Maryland had "significantly disproportional" shares of blacks in at least one of the three areas, according to state data.
Blacks make up 22 percent of the student population in Montgomery County. But they make up 42 percent of the population considered mentally retarded and 36 percent of special-ed students taught in separate classes, and blacks account for 52 percent of suspensions among students with disabilities, according to enrollment counts taken in October.
Via
Disability Law
1 comment:
IIRC, there's a gendered dimension to this also--African-American boys are especially likely to be identified both as mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed.
I took a class this spring on law, education and civil rights that had a sizeable component on disability in schools. There's a very interesting tension for advocates and policy-people between making sure that the kids who really need extra services are getting them (something that schools will resist because they don't want to spend the extra money) and kids being wrongly identified as mentally retarded and then removed from classrooms.
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