A QuantCrit Analysis of Context, Discipline, Special Education, and Disproportionality

Abstract

Using a dis/ability critical race theory (DisCrit) and critical quantitative (QuantCrit) lens, we examine disproportionate application of exclusionary discipline on multiply marginalized youth, foregrounding systemic injustice and institutionalized racism. In doing so, we examined temporal-, student-, and school-level factors that may result in exclusion and othering (i.e., placing into special education and punishing with out-of-school suspensions) within one school district. We frame this study in DisCrit and QuantCrit frameworks to connect data-based decision making to sociocultural understandings of the ways in which schools use both special education and discipline to simultaneously provide and limit opportunities for different student groups. Results showed a complex interconnectedness between student sociodemographic labels (e.g., gender, race, and socioeconomic status) and factors associated with both special education identification and exclusionary discipline. Our findings suggest that quantitative studies lacking in-depth theoretical justification may perpetuate deficit understandings of the racialization of disability and intersections with exclusionary discipline.

Democratizing Creative Early Educational Experiences: A Matter of Racial Justice

“…Creative educational experiences are positioned as the property of Whiteness. White children are ascribed belonging, while Black, Indigenous, and other Children of Color are typically excluded under the guise that they do not have what it takes and need remediation via direct instruction (Cruz et al, 2021). An example is the racialized conceptualization of baseline language expectations, which define “academic language” in alignment with Whiteness.…”

A Systematic Review of Student Disability and Race Representation in Universal School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions for Elementary School Students

“…The narrative of students with learning differences within the context of U.S. public education is one of profound intersectionality: Race, class, gender, ethnicity, and disability interact to create overlapping and interdependent systems of disadvantage with negative consequences for students’ long-term health and wellness, as well as academic, social, and economic outcomes (Annamma et al, 2018; Artiles et al, 2016; Crenshaw, 1991; Cruz et al, 2021). Disproportionate representation in special education is a well-documented and complex issue in education research (see Morgan et al, 2015; National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2020; Skiba et al, 2016).…”

“…Disproportionate representation in special education is a well-documented and complex issue in education research (see Morgan et al, 2015; National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2020; Skiba et al, 2016). Students of color and English language learners with disabilities are simultaneously less likely to receive services when warranted, more likely to spend time in restrictive rather than general education environments, and more likely to experience harsh discipline (Artiles et al, 2016; Cruz et al, 2021; Cruz & Rodl, 2018; National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2020). In comparison with their white peers, students of color and those who have experienced poverty are more likely to be identified as having disabilities at school (specifically emotional and behavioral disorders and specific learning disabilities; National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2020; Skiba et al, 2016).…”

“…On the whole, minoritized students—including those historically marginalized by race, ethnicity, and ability (Artiles et al, 2016; Annamma et al, 2018; Cruz et al, 2021)—have not shared equitably in benefits stemming from educational interventions, best practices, or improvements to educational policy (Artiles et al, 2016; Annamma et al, 2018; Ladson-Billings, 2021; Leonardo, 2009). Once more, in some cases the deficit orientation of these interventions, practices, and policies have been considered to contribute to the inequitable, inaccessible, and punitive educational practices affecting minoritized youth (Cipriano et al, 2021a; Annamma et al, 2018; Bal & Trainor, 2016; Duchesneau, 2018).…”

Toward a Du Boisian paradigm of family science

“…Recently, education scholars have used QuantCrit methodological strategies to propose measures of degree attainment for Latinx students that go beyond monetary indexes to include non‐monetary and symbolic benefits (Pérez Huber et al, 2018). Others have taken a QuantCrit lens to the study of discipline in special education by considering temporal, student, and school‐level factors to understand the racialization of disability in disciplinary practices (Cruz et al, 2021). Following the tenets of QuantCrit, these studies move away from understanding sociodemographic labels or any other factors as measures of relationships (Zuberi, 2001).…”