A Multilevel Analysis of Statewide Disproportionality in Exclusionary Discipline and the Identification of Emotional Disturbance

Abstract

Racial minority youth are disproportionally removed from their learning environment due to school discipline and placed in special education for emotional disturbance. These disparities continue to trouble families, educators, and policy makers, particularly within urban schools. Yet there is a paucity of research on how behavioral outcome disparities occur in different states. This study addresses this gap examining the extent and predictors of behavioral outcome disparities in Wisconsin. Using the entire state’s data, we conducted multilevel logistic regression analyses. The analyses showed that African American students were seven times and Native American and Latino students were two times more likely to receive exclusionary discipline. African American students and Native American students were two to three times more likely to be labeled as emotionally disturbed. Students’ race, gender, income, language, attendance, and academic proficiency were related to outcome disparities while school characteristics were not substantively meaningful predictors, excepting the percentage of transferred students. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Standing Out and Sorting In: Exploring the Role of Racial Composition in Racial Disparities in Special Education

“…Subjectivity in the process of identifying disabilities allows social factors, such as race and school racial composition, to affect referral, eligibility, the type of disability diagnosis, and placement into services. Existing research shows that racial bias and parental pressure affect teachers' decisions to refer students to special education testing, testing processes, and team decisions to qualify students for special education services (Fish, 2017;Harry & Klingner, 2007). I argue that in addition to these individual-level factors, racial composition is likely to affect which students are identified with disabilities and thus receive special education services.…”

“…She suggests that racial composition may engender racial competition and political mobilization by parents, shaping who is identified with educational disabilities. Other plausible mechanisms include the possibility that school racial composition moderates the salience of racial stereotypes, which affect teachers' suspicions of disability (Fish, 2017), as well as the possibility that school racial composition might affect the social-psychological and academic well-being of students of color (Goldsmith, 2004;Hanselman, Bruch, Gamoran, & Borman, 2014;Tyson, William Darity, & Castellino, 2005), which, in turn, affect the need for special education services. The existing research leaves open many questions about what these patterns of race, composition, and special education are for a wider range of disability categories and how students are sorted into different categories of disability.…”

“…Yet it is also possible that teacher evaluations of student skills may be based on ''demographic statuses linked to achievement [that act as] the trigger for the comparison processes'' (Crosnoe, 2009). In this way, the racial biases that unintentionally affect teachers' suspicions of exceptionality (Fish, 2017) may become more salient when a student stands out racially among his peers. Thus, racial distinctiveness might enhance racial bias in teachers' perceptions of students, exacerbating biased perceptions of students of color as having lower-status disabilities, such as emotional disturbance (Fish, 2017), as well as biased perceptions of White students' academic challenges as reflecting higher-status disabilities, such as ADHD (Fish, 2017).…”

“…In this way, the racial biases that unintentionally affect teachers' suspicions of exceptionality (Fish, 2017) may become more salient when a student stands out racially among his peers. Thus, racial distinctiveness might enhance racial bias in teachers' perceptions of students, exacerbating biased perceptions of students of color as having lower-status disabilities, such as emotional disturbance (Fish, 2017), as well as biased perceptions of White students' academic challenges as reflecting higher-status disabilities, such as ADHD (Fish, 2017). Indeed, the findings here suggest that school racial composition might matter for racialized sorting into disability through such racialized frog pond effects.…”

Standing out and Sorting in: Exploring the Role of Racial Composition in Racial Disparities in Special Education

“…This research suggests that students of color are not overrepresented at all, but rather they may actually be underrepresented in special education once confounders are taken into account Morgan et al, 2015). However, other research suggests that the relation between race and risk of special education receipt depends on the disability category, as children of color have greater risk than White children when they exhibit behavioral challenges, and White children have greater risk than children of color when they exhibit academic challenges (Fish, 2017).…”