Over Representation of African American Students in the Special Education System. Essay Example for Free

Over Representation of African American Students in the fussy discipline System. EssayIntroduction My current shoal has exceptional instruction roster of 32 students in self contain with over 90% of the students cosmos African-American. This paper depart address the large subjugate African-American students in the special rearing dust. Attention volition be focus on the social stinting roles that play a part in attitude. When done properly and in book perspective, special commandment is beneficial for students with a real dis business leader, but special pedagogy services ar inappropriate when a student receives it when it is non needed. African-American students are being put in the special education system at an alarming rate. They are being labeled with disabilities at ages as early as tailfin years old, because they progress relaxer than the rest of the class, bias in assessment instrument, discrimination in gild reflected in the school or they may pres ent some behavior issue. special(a) education is appropriate arranging for students with real disabilities, but minority blacks are being disproportionately place in special education.This unjust placement at early ages are causing these children to be stereotyped as slow learners causing low self esteem and low achievement rate during and after school. This is a major task when addressing special education for African Americans. Many attempts contribute been made to solve the issues but in that respect bear been no satisfactory results. Theoretical Framework The disproportionate representation of African-Americans students in the special education system is well documented.This misrepresentation has been problematic since the inception of the special education program. This paper give canvas the reasons many another(prenominal) of these students hold in been categorized with various type of acquire disabilities or emotional disturbances. These labels given to students have proven to be life altering to students given incorrect placement. Lawsuits have been filed charging that placements of high numbers of African American, especially male, in special education classes has been a tool for resisting court ordered desegregation (Harry and Anderson, 1992).In many instances in that respect is a lack of or unwillingness to properly place African American students because of educators in some systems being culturally divers(prenominal). Secondly there is a lot of mistrust amid educators and parents. Many parents dont seek appropriate services or disagree with educational placement because they feel they will be see as ignorant or talked down to by instructors and administrators placing their children in special education.This paper will alike discuss the long term effects that hinder students educational progress as well as there adult life. Once do in many special education programs student may not be in line to receive a high school diploma. Ma ny students have difficulties in the community getting jobs because employers feel they will be slower then there counterparts that received a regular education. This then snowballs into the child being fit(p) in a lower social economic bracket because of the type of employment they will have to settle for in adulthood.African-American students are disproportionally placed in the special education system well-nigh the country. This misrepresentation is may be due to teacher ineffectiveness. Improving teachers capacity to provide culturally antiphonal instruction to African American students is like to improve student learning ability (Darling-Hammond, 2004). New teachers essential meet a vigorous undergraduate program to become certified they continue to graduate change to in effect teach African American students.Many exit program with a misconception of black students. They conjecture that the African American students are not as smart as other races. The purpose of this bel ieve is to prove there is a misrepresentation of African American students in special education. I also plan to illustrate the problem of disproportionate representation of African American students in special education is not just a special education problem issue or concern but, instead, essential be viewed in the context as it refers to racism in the whole educational system.I will discuss how racism contributes to and maintains disproportionality in special education by (a) insufficiently funding schools attended principally by African American and poor children (b) employing culturally inappropriate and unresponsive curriculum (c) inadequately preparing educators to effectively teach African American learners and other students of color.I will show that to effectively address the problem of disproportionality, exploreers, practitioners andpolicymakers must place inequitable educational resource allocation, inappropriate curriculum and pedagogy and inadequate teacher preparat ion at the center of education research, policy, and practice. Significance of the Study There is much significance for this study. creation a special education teacher I have seen many students come to me because they were a behavioral problem during their elementary years. I believe it is our responsibility to set abtaboo a solution to this growing problem. First, we as educators, we need to bump out if this race of students are get misplaced in the educational system.These students not getting a proper education are causing a negative effect on their entire life. This causes this particular group to have to depend on state aid and weakens the workforce. Secondly, we need to find out if there is a problem with teacher preparedness. If this is a problem we need to figure out what can be done in state colleges and universities to solve these problems. Would adding a more ethically diverse curriculum better prepare teachers to educate African American students?The majority of the teachers coming out of college will be spending there first few years teaching intercity kids, with the majority being African Americans. Finally we need to educate or children to be reliable productive citizens. I feel that these children are not being given an equal shot at being productive if they are being thrown in the special education class in the back of the building. We already know there is a problem, now we need to work together to find a solution that will go around benefit the students.Definition of Terms Disproportionate numbers Having greater representation within a subgroupcompared to the number of students in the population as a whole. Some researchers use plus or minus 10% to determine proportionality (Harry Anderson, 1994). Discrimination The ability to make or perceive distinction discernment.Partiality, or bias, in the treatment of a person or group, which is unfair, illegal, etc(Loren Orfield, 2002). It is my opinion that African American children are being placed in special Education because of biases unfair grouping. High Achieving School-wide trajectory of API (if in California) and Annual Yearly pass (AYP) growth over three years of all subgroups.There must also be a minimum movement of two deciles within 3-5 years. Special Education Services and supports designed to minimize the daze of disability and maximize opportunity to grow and learn (Hehir, 2007). Limitation, Delimitation and Assumptions Limitations of Study The limitations of this study would be to find willing participates, because of the reasons I have discussed earlier parents will be willing to admit that their child was placed in special education because of a lack of knowledge on their part.Another limitation that will affect them outcome of this research is because I am directly employed in the parish that I have chosen to do research. This position will limit the effectiveness of my research because of student privacy and my position in the parish. It is also my opinion that school districts will not want to release information that could potential be used against them. As stated before I think students of color or being illegal classified as students with special needs and placed in special education. These are a few factors that could limit my study.Delimitations of the StudyExternal validity may be effected based on the number of student/parents being interviewed. Validate may be effected due to other minority races not being included in the study. Also the size and school locations may limit my ability to get adequate data to fully prove my hypothesis. The small sample population was feasible for my research rather then venturing out into larger areas. This is significant in that the findings may not be relevant to other schools. Assumptions of the Study References Artiles, A. J. (2003). Special educations changing identity Paradoxes and dilemmas in views of culture and space.Harvard educational Review, 73, 164-202. Artiles, A. J. , R ueda, R. , Salazar, J. J. , Higareda, I. (2005). Within-group diversity in minority disproportionate representation English language learners in urban school districts. majestic Children, 71, 283-300. Billingsley, B. (2004). Special education teachers retention and attrition A critical analysis of the research literature. healing(p) and Special Education, 25, 22-39. Blair, C. , Scott, K. G. (2002). 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