11:03 a.m.
This is an interesting one recommended by Jason Travers from Temple University along with
one on Culture, Race, and Autism that is pretty good (he should be at the BK conference
and will introduce those who go- smart guy). For those of you outside disability- there is
a firestorm around the disproportionality issue and disability. With one camp, much of
which is driven by critical theory- saying that special education is ableist and racist
and the other camp saying some groups are going to need additional special education
services over others that to deny services to those with disabilities is itself ableist
and racist. Ablest being the new corollary term for racist- so you can imagine how nasty
the conversation can become…
One of the problems though it seems to me with the disproportionality research is that it
isn’t really clear what proportionality means? Texas put a cap on the number of students
served a few years ago (I think it was 8% or something like that) in sped in part to
address issues of disproportionality- and got in trouble with the feds over it.
Mostly it is the aggregate people seems to be talking about it seems in general- but does
that mean all the comparisons at the local level should be proportional as well? And if
so- in which areas of the US and which disabilities? Or urban areas vs. rural areas just
for an example- my guess maybe over represented in urban areas and under in rural areas?
Can disaggregate and slice and dice a lot of different ways- not just based on race (if
race exists which seems debatable and then one can reliably separate cultural
characteristics and stereotypes :) Have to go slow and measured on the culture
stuff…thorny stuff- is why I like having all of you around to help me figure it all out
😊
MDB
“Cultural variations in the representation of autism and
service preferences also have been discussed as potential
contributors to disproportionality, although these factors
often fall outside the scope of the studies.”
Mack D. Burke, Ph.D.
Department of Educational Psychology
Applied Behavior Analysis and Special Education Programs
Behavioral Education & Assessment Research (BEAR Lab)
School of Education, Baylor University