r: special education has made considerable advances in researcb, policy, and practice in its short history. However, students fiom bistorically underserved groups continue to be disproportionately identified as requiring special education. Support for color-blind practices and policies can justify racial disproportionality in special education and signal a retrenchment to deficit views about students fiom historically underserved groups. We respond to these emerging concerns through an analysis of arguments that justify disproportionality. We also identify explanations of the problem and critique tbe views of culture that underlie these explanations. We conclude with a brief discussion of implications and future directions.

In this article, we present a conceptual framework for addressing the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education. The cornerstone of our approach to addressing disproportionate representation is through the creation of culturally responsive educational systems. Our goal is to assist practitioners, researchers, and policy makers in coalescing around culturally responsive, evidence-based interventions and strategic improvements in practice and policy to improve students’ educational opportunities in general education and reduce inappropriate referrals to and placement in special education. We envision this work as cutting across three interrelated domains: policies, practices, and people. Policies include those guidelines enacted at federal, state, district, and school levels that influence funding, resource allocation, accountability, and other key aspects of schooling. We use the notion of practice in two ways, in the instrumental sense of daily practices that all cultural beings engage in to navigate and survive their worlds, and also in a technical sense to describe the procedures and strategies devised for the purpose of maximizing students’ learning outcomes. People include all those in the broad educational system: administrators, teacher educators, teachers, community members, families, and the children whose opportunities we wish to improve.

In this technical comment, we argue that Morgan et al.’s claim that there is no minority overrepresentation in special education is in error due to (a) sampling considerations, (b) inadequate support from previous and current analyses, and (c) their failure to consider the complexities of special education disproportionality.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) data that states and U.S. territories report from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and discuss the status of the most restrictive special education placement settings for students with disabilities. In this analysis, we found that (a) states do not set rigorous improvement goals to reduce restrictive placements, (b) the percentage of students with disabilities placed in restrictive placements have remained essentially unchanged over the past decade, and (c) students with low-incidence (severe) disabilities are disproportionally placed in restrictive placements. These results suggest that segregated educational experiences continue for thousands of students with disabilities in spite of evidence that shows that opportunities to learn and develop are enhanced in more inclusive educational settings.

When a family finds out their child has a disability, they enter the world of special education which has its own terminology, rules, settings, and personnel. In addition to grappling with the meaning of their child's special needs, families are also thrown into the role of principle advocate for their child. This research study presents the findings from focus groups conducted with 27 diverse families on their efforts to obtain the best educational outcomes for their children. In this article, Robyn Hess, Elizabeth Kozleski, and Amy Molina bring their collective experiences as a school psychologist, special education teacher, and bilingual counselor, to bear on this topic and frame the issue from a systemic perspective. They argue that engaging in conversation with diverse families around their needs as well as assisting them in their efforts to advocate for their child is the first step in creating more equal partnerships between diverse parents of children with special needs and educational professionals. Parental Voice 3Politicians, educators, researchers, policy analysts, and the media have all scrutinized the value of special education. In the United States, the passage of IDEIA 2004 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of , H.R. 1350 , 108th Cong., 2004, required special education to demonstrate the same accountability as that of the broader educational enterprise. Accordingly, students with disabilities are now required to demonstrate their knowledge and skills on standards-based assessments thereby ensuring that schools are held accountable for the academic progress for students with and without disabilities. By increasing accountability standards, this legislation attempts to guarantee that schools provide students with disabilities opportunities to learn within the general education curriculum. While special educators have long advocated for greater inclusion of students with disabilities, many school systems still provide separate classrooms, if not schools, to educate these students.While on one hand, those who advocate for separate educational settings would argue that these systems allow schools to meet the special needs of children, to protect them and effectively educate all students (Barton, 2004), others would contend that these structures create barriers (Oliver, 1996) and encourage negative labels and stereotypes (Barnes, 1991 cited in Barton, 2004. Given that individuals with disabilities experience higher rates of unemployment and underemployment, higher dropout rates and more restricted community participation relative to others without disabilities (Browning, Dunn, Rabren, & Whetstone, 1995; National Center for Education Statistics, 2000); one might question the efficacy of current practices in preparing individuals for post-schooling outcomes. Of further concern, is the long history of special education in serving a disproportionate number of students of color (Donovan & Cross, 2002; Losen & Orfield, 2002). Given these shortcomings, the educational fi...