1. THE OVER-REPRESENTATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION SOCIAL ISSUE PROJECT ETHS 2410 FALL 2104 BY: BEA LUNDE

2. MY SOCIAL ISSUE I became interested in doing my research on the over-representation of African American students in Special Education because of the following reasons:  Scholarly Articles  Personal Interest  Experience  Media journal

3. Summary Advocates have been fighting since 1975 for the equal treatment of students with disabilities. There are initiatives are being advocated in special education programs all across the county were African- American students, especially those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are being disproportionately labeled as having emotional and behavior disorders and mental retardation. African American students, especially those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, are being disproportionately labeled as having emotional and behavior disorders and mental retardation. Data from recently as 2010 estates that the number of African American students being labeled with emotional and behavior disorders and intellectual disabilities has remained unchanged. African American students continue to outnumber other subgroups of students in the categories of Emotional Behavioral Disorders (EBD) and Intellectual Disabilities. Intervention * After reading this article I realized how important it is too give all students regarding of their race and academic status equal and fair treatment. Therefore my intervention would be to see educators have better training through workshops that focus on working with African-American students and their families from all walks of life. Scholarly Research “African American Students in Special Education”

4. Scholarly Research “The Pre-Referral Intervention Process” Summary The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is designed to ensure that students with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education. Schools must have in place appropriate procedures to determine if the child who is referred for special education services is a child with a disability and requires special education. Addressing Over-Representation of African American Students in Special Education: “The Pre-referral Intervention Process fills that void by describing promising approaches that researchers and experienced practitioners recommend may be undertaken to prevent the over-representation of African-American students”. (NABSE Focus Groups, 2001). Intervention * All students including African-American one need to be carefully evaluated in order to determine whether or not they need to be placed in Special Education, it should not just be based of assuming that because they show signs of any type of behavioral or emotional disorders, automatically should they be overrepresented and /or labeled “mentally retarded”.

5. Scholarly Research “K12-African-Americans in Special Education” Summary Studies found that grossly disproportionate numbers of minority students are identified as eligible for services, and too often placed in isolated and restrictive educational settings. African-American students made up only 17 percent of the total school enrollment; however, 33 percent of these students were classified as mentally retarded. According to ( Blanchet,.W., Educational Researcher, 2006) “White privilege and racism contribute to and maintain disproportionality in special education by (a) insufficiently funding schools attended primarily by African American and poor children; (b) employing culturally inappropriate and unresponsive curricula; and (c) inadequately preparing educators to effectively teach African American learners and other students of color”. Intervention * Before referring any student, we need to be careful not to assume that an African American is not capable, We have to make sure they have had proper reading and math intervention for al least 8 weeks. This instruction needs to be geared to his or hers specific needs.

6. INTERVENTION What is it? *Workshops and training geared for teachers and administrators with motivational speakers and psychologists of the African American race. *African American parental education to help them be more involved in the education of their children and also involvement so hat teachers and school personnel can better understand and get to know the values and culture of African-Americans. Who would be involved/participate? *All School administrators, Teachers, Staff, Students, Families (not just African American) What is the goal? *To make sure that the intervention is to make sure that the school, student and families are responding in a motivational and positive way. How much would it cost? * No cost involved.

7. RESISTANCE TO THE INTERVENTION * Conflicting Work Schedule *Negative Attitude *Laziness on the part of the School, Teachers and Parents to et involved. * Cultural Pride

8. SUPPORT FOR THE INTERVENTION *To get all family members to support this intervention by asking them to get more involved. Also get the Community Learning Center (CLC) in the Glendale area to help recruit parents, teachers and students. So that all culturally diverse families can work together with teachers and schools to better help students. *Here is a link that talks about the importance of the importance of Intervention for African American students. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiVCDZFLW5Y

9. IMPACT ON THE INTERVENTION *I would love to see positive influences within the community because it will show Families and Educators the importance that cultural diversity plays in Education and what a positive difference it can make in the lives of a student. * Getting the teachers, parents and students involved in school programs and workshops will decrease the possibilities of any issues in the future. *I believe that there should be high importance in encouraging African American students to pursue a degree so that it can help them to be able and work toward a successful profession. This will ten motivate them to most likely come back to their communities and bring about positive influences.

10. REFERENCES Fanion, LaTanya. “The Overrepresentation of African American Students in Special Education”. Examiner.com. 02 Jul, 2010. http://www.examiner.com/article/the-overrepresentation-of-african-american- students-special-education Council for Exceptional Children “The Pre-referral Intervention Process”. Web 07 Dec. 2014. http://www.dcsig.org/files/AddressingOverrepresentationAfricanAmericanguide.pdf “African-Americans in Special Education”- K12 Academics. Web 07 Dec. 2014. http://www.k12academics.com/special-education-united-states/african- americans-special-education#.VIeFRP7YeM9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiVCDZFLW5Y

16. SCHOLARLY RESEARCH ARTICLE 1. SINCE THE INCEPTION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION IN 1975, ADVOCATES HAVE BEEN FIGHTING FOR THE FAIR AND EQUAL TREATMENT OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES. AT THE SAME TIME, SOME WANTED THESE STUDENTS TO RECEIVE AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE THAT WAS COMPARABLE TO THEIR NON- DISABLED PEERS, YET OTHERS WANTED TO ENSURE THAT ALL STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES WERE TREATED EQUITABLY; RECEIVED DISABILITY LABELS THAT WERE NON-DISCRIMINATORY; AND WERE EDUCATED IN GENERAL EDUCATION VERSUS SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSROOMS. A PERSON BY THE NAME OF LLOYD DUNN FOUGHT FOR THREE INITIATIVES TO BE ADVOCATED AS A RESULT OF THIS BECAUSE HE FELT THAT THEY WERE ALL AT THE FOUNDATION OF A SILENT EPIDEMIC THAT WAS FESTERING IN SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTY- AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS, ESPECIALLY THOSE FROM LOWER SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS, WERE BEING DISPROPORTIONATELY LABELED AS HAVING EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOR DISORDERS AND MENTAL RETARDATION. DUNN ALSO ADVOCATED FOR THE FAIR TREATMENT OF MINORITIES IN SPECIAL EDUCATION A FEW YEARS AFTER THE U.S. SUPREME COURT RULED THAT “SEPARATE WAS INHERENTLY UNEQUAL” IN BROWN VS. TOPEKA BOARD OF EDUCATION (1954)- THE LANDMARK CASE THAT ENDED SEGREGATION IN THE NATION’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS. SINCE THAT TIME, THE NUMBER OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS BEING LABELED WITH EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOR DISORDERS AND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES HAS REMAINED UNCHANGED. ACCORDING TO DATA FROM THE 2009- 2010 ANNUAL SPECIAL EDUCATION REPORT COMPILED BY THE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS CONTINUE TO OUTNUMBER OTHER SUBGROUPS OF STUDENTS IN THE CATEGORIES OF EMOTIONAL BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS (EBD) AND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES. ADDITIONALLY, AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE SERVED IN SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSES AND RESIDENTIAL PLACEMENTS MORE THAN THEIR PEERS. A VARIETY OF REASONS HAVE BEEN GIVEN FOR WHY THE OVER- REPRESENTATION OF SOME STUDENTS. THESE ARE THE MOST PREVELANT: ARTICLE 2: HTTP://WWW.DCSIG.ORG/FILES/ADDRESSINGOVER REPRESENTATIONAFRICANAMERICANGUIDE.PDF ARTICLE 3: HTTP://WWW.K12ACADEMICS.COM/SPECIAL- EDUCATION-UNITED-STATES/AFRICAN-AMERICANS- SPECIAL-EDUCATION#.VIDNBP7YFCS HTTP://WWW.DCSIG.ORG/FILES/ADDRESSINGOVER REPRESENTATIONAFRICANAMERICANGUIDE.PDF HTTP://WWW.K12ACADEMICS.COM/SPECIAL- EDUCATION-UNITED-STATES/AFRICAN-AMERICANS- SPECIAL-EDUCATION#.VIDNBP7YFCS