The History of Disproportionality of Black Students

International Journal of Education ISSN 1948-5476 2016, Vol. 8, No. 4 http:ije.macrothink.org 2

1. Introduction

The role of education around the world is to help all students regardless of their differences such as race, ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic status. However, this role is still in tension in many countries, including the United States, where the education in public schools is not achieving the expectations of different cultural groups such as African American students. This group has suffered from discrimination since their first settlement in the United States. Students within this group were, also, being in a representation of disproportionality because of their racial and ethnic backgrounds. Disproportionate representation by many public schools around the country was given basically to young Black male students, who are often recognized and classified as special needs individuals. This paper will discuss the disproportionate representation of African American students within special education. The history, key dimensions of this issue, and recent practices by many public schools regarding this issue will be mentioned. Furthermore, some recommendations will be introduced in order to present a solution for some concerns and inappropriate practices by public schools toward young black male students. 1.1 Definitions of Disproportionate Representation of Black Students According to Oxford Dictionary, the word disproportionate means “the state of two things not being at an equal high or low level.” According to the National Education Association of the United States and National Association of School Psychologists 2007, the term disproportionality in special education is “the overrepresentation and under-representation of a particular population or demographic group in special or gifted education programs relative to the presence of this group in the overall student population” p. 6. In this regard, it has been widely known that some public school teachers foresee students from the dominant society more than students from other cultural backgrounds. Basically, when teachers’ attitudes and reactions are absent when delivering their lessons to all students compared to being biased in favors of the dominant class, it can easily cause a feeling of rejection among some students Winzer Mazurak, 2000. For instance, 2.64 of all Black male students who joined public education are nationally recognized as having intellectual disabilities Gentry, 2009. Moreover, disabled African American student are seen as underrepresented in public schools general education and overrepresented in isolated classroom situations Skiba, Poloni-Staudinger, Gallini, Simmons, Feggins-Azziz, 2006.

2. The History of Disproportionality of Black Students

The history of disproportionate practices by schools, including teachers, toward African American groups has been rooted since early years until 1950s Skiba, Simmons, Ritter, Gibb, Rausch, Cuadrado, Chung, 2008. These practices were seen as forms of discrimination and oppressions, especially in school levels where African American students have witnessed. Moss 2009 reported that African American students resorted to self-education in order to survive their daily life from oppressions they had by European-Americans. International Journal of Education ISSN 1948-5476 2016, Vol. 8, No. 4 http:ije.macrothink.org 3 Fortunately, the advent of the Civil Rights movement in 1950s and 1960s opened doors for a more acceptable admission process to public schools Winzer Mazurek, 2000. Notable educational scholars started to advocate for equal access of education regardless of ethnicity or race. Some of these are William Cruickshank 1958, Lloyd Dunn 1968, Gunnar Dybwad etc. who all fought against racial discrimination in the educational system. These people were believed to be the pioneers of modern advocates for equality. Later, federal policies emerged to confront the separation in public schools, for example, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Education for all Handicapped children 1975, which were addressing IQ tests and lack of educational chances given to African American students, which led them to be isolated within special classes. Also, IDEA 2004 allowed states to monitor and review the local implementations and procedures towards disproportionality of racial or ethical groups Skiba, et al, 2008 . These policies will be further explained later on this paper as initiatives against disproportionality of African Americans in special education. There are some dimensions regarding the disproportionality of African American students in special education, but the two key dimensions which can be noted form the definition of disproportionate representation; the overrepresentation and under-representation of students. The overrepresentation in special education is known as when a racial group is largely represented in the program than its percentage of the entire educational system or in a categorized disability; for example, Mild Mental Retardation MMR. According to US Department of Education NCES 2000, 9 of black male students are represented of the total enrollees to public education; however 20 of those students are classified as having mental retardation. Moreover, 21 of black students are identified as learning disabilities and 12 of black students are identified as emotional disturbance Lawson, Q., Humphrey, Wood-Garnett, Fearn, Welch, Greene-Bryant, Avoke , 2002. . On other hand, it is widely believed that the under-representation in special education when the number of a racial group is considerably less to receive special education services than its overall number of the education system. According to the National Academy of Sciences report, only 3.4 of black students are categorized to giftedness National Education Association of the United States, National Association of School Psychologists, 2007 . The image of under and over-representation of African American students is indeed one of the present oppression in the education system towards this population.

3. Causes of Disproportionality of Black Students within Special Education