Exploration Paper

ETHS 2410

Jenni Berhold, Kathleen Ogrin, Salina Zarate
8/10/2014





Social Issue
Our social issue considered the disproportionate representation of African Americans in
special education. We wanted to consider the African American culture as a whole and whether
there is any difference between African Americans born in the Unites States and those who are
recent immigrants. During our research we found that African American students have been
overrepresented for many years. The reasons for this vary but include socioeconomic statue,
lack of quality health care, and cultural disconnect between mainstream education and African
American culture. Regardless of the reason placement in special education can have negative
impacts a childs education that has been misplaced into the program. Once placed into a special
education program children are more likely to have a restrictive educational career and often
struggle with success in the job market once they have graduated. Many of these students also
find acceptance or success in college difficult.
Article
The article Minority Representation in Special Education: 5-Year Trends by Zhang and
Katsiyannis provides a general overview of the issue of disproportionate representation of
minorities in special education. They illustrate this issue by looking at data maintained by the
US Department of Education regarding children in special education over a five year period.
The authors plotted the percentage of students from each racial group; African American,
Alaskan/American Indian, Asian, Hispanic, and White. They found that over the five year
period African Americans had the highest percentage. When looking at the three individual
categories in special education they had the highest in intellectual disabilities, and emotional
disabilities. In the category of learning disabilities they were the second highest. Zhang and
Katsiyannisfound this result to be constant with previous research before legislation to address
the disproportionality was mandated. They did find an overall decrease in percentages across all
ethnic group just not the ordering of them. The authors identify a disconnect between
mainstream educational culture and the cultural orientations of communities of color as a
possible cause of the overrepresentation (Zhang and Katsiyannis,119).
Zhang and Katsiyannis also briefly address some for the possible issues students might be
faced with when identifies as a student with a disability. They found that students are placed in
restrictive classrooms and not able to rejoin mainstream education. This may result in a limited
educational experience. They also found that minority students with disabilities are less likely to
find employment or attend college than students with disabilities that are white.
The second article is entitled GROWING UP AMERICAN: The Challenge Confronting
Immigrant Children and Children of Immigrants African American Immigrants are one of the
most prominent races in the United States today. They were brought over as slaves then won
their freedom and have only succeeded since then, but not without very hard work. It took hard
work to gain freedom and it requires very hard work to receive a good education and these proud
people are not shy to the work. Due to their hard work, African American Immigrants have more
college education and higher rates of degree attainment than any other immigrant group in the
United States. African American immigrants have proved that diligence to their studies and
determination to persevere pay off in the end. The only thing that I wish is that these people
could only find better work in the states, because despite their hard work and higher education
levels, they still prove to be earning lower wages compared to others with similar education or
training. It truly does prove that America is not a golden land of privileged education. Statistics
have shown that African American Immigrants have been doing better in school than African
Americans that have been born in the United States.

The third article is entiltled Special Education and the Mis-Education of African
American Children: A Call To Action by Jamila Codington and Halford H. Fairchild.
Codington and Fairchild expound on the issue that many African American children (and
children of other minorities) face today. According to the article, the disproportionality of
African American students in special education classrooms is 2 and a half times more than non
African-American students. The article also states that African American students (as well as
other minorities) are under-represented in gifted and talented classes.
Unfortunately, the main problem seems to be that students who are placed in special
needs classes are placed there because the teachers dont understand the cultural differences.
That is the main issue behind African American students being over represented in special needs
classes. Teachers do not have the right training, which leads them to not have patience or know
how to teach to the cultural differences.
Intervention
The main problem behind African American students being overrepresented is that
teachers arent properly trained and dont have cultural competence. For our intervention we
would like to have a professional development half day workshop at our elementary school.
During the workshop we would like to address the issue of overrepresentation of African
Americans in special education so that teachers are aware that this is a potential issue for the
African American culture. Along with the awareness of this issue we would like teachers to gain
some cultural knowledge that is reverent to the causes of overrepresentation of African American
students in special education. We would like to have a guest speaker conduct the workshop that
is knowledgeable in the African American culture. A professor from a local college or university
would be ideal. Providing teachers with this knowledge gives them tools they need to support
students in a way that benefits them.
In conducting this intervention we would have a budget of $500-1000. This would cover
lunch for the participants ($200) and the cost of the guest speaker(s) ($300-1000). The
participants for this intervention would be all of the teachers in the targeted school. If all
teachers participate then they are on the same page and can have meaningful conversations about
the need for special education of their students. To allow all teachers to participate the
intervention would be held in the library or another room within the teachers school. This
workshop would be held yearly to include new teachers in the school and to build on the cultural
knowledge of the existing teachers.
Impact
We want our intervention to bring awareness to teachers at the school that the issue of an
overrepresentation of African Americans in special education is an issue and to start thinking
about it. We would like them to get some cultural awareness and also continue to learn about
different cultures. Hopefully with this knowledge the teachers will choose other professional
development opportunities that focus on culture and styles of teaching that support multiple
cultures. In the long run we want our intervention to start the process of learning new teaching
strategies and applying them to their classrooms. Also if a child is struggling to think about why
they are struggling and is there a strategy that might help the student before considering special
education. The ultimate goal is to only have students that need to be in special education in there
and to support all cultures within the classroom.



Reference
Zhang, D., Katsiyannis, A., Ju, S., and Roberts, E. (2012). Minority Representation in Special
Education: 5-Year Trends. Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Fairchild, H., & Codrington, J. (2012, February 13). Special Education and the Mis-education of
African American Children: A Call to Action. The Association of Black Psychologists.

Zhou, Min. Growing Up American: The challenge confronting Immigrant children and children
of immigrants. Annual Reviews. 2006. Print.