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