Teach Effectively!

Some parents of African-American students in Connecticut complained about over-representation of children of color in special education at a forum held by the Connecticut state Department of Education, according to a story by Mathew J. Malone. The parents expressed concern about whether teachers are prepared to work with children from minority backgrounds, whether parents are capable of using available procedures to challenge special education diagnoses, and whether factors such as ethnicity enter into educational decisions. The state education agency (SEA) is examining issues of over-representation and was taking testimony from parents.

Data from the 2004-05 school year show black students are about three times more likely than whites to be classified as mentally retarded and twice as likely to be labeled emotionally disturbed.

Black students also are more likely, albeit marginally, to be classified as special education students. The disparity in the three categories has grown during the past three years.

About 1,800 Stamford students, about 12 percent of total enrollment, receive special education services. About 130 are classified with an intellectual disability, the state’s term for mental retardation, or emotional disturbance, which refers to learning problems born of emotional, behavioral or mental disorders.

Nearly half of the students in those categories are black, district data show.

Problems of disproportionality are not unique to Connecticut. I think they should be addressed. They will continue to be confounded by another problem, however. As long as faulty teaching methods and practices continue to be used by schools, there are going to be some students who will require special education for the wrong reasons. We have to eliminate the instructional casualties before we can determine which students need special education services because of some characteristics of their’s, not the schools’.

Link to Mr. Malone’s story.