A Rose by Any Other Name: Identifying Students for Special Education Services

1. A Rose by Any Other Name: Identifying Students for Special Education Services L. Mason-Williams March 6, 2010

2. Agenda • Welcome! Who are you? • Thanks where thanks is due • A little background • Assessment • Eligibility/definitions • Overrepresentation • Case Study 1: Marc • Robert, Matthew & Austin, Miles, & Clementina

3. Welcome! • My experience: • Old Mill Middle School South- AACPS, MD • Co-taught 6th grade (primarily) • “Collaboratively” taught 6th, 7th, & 8th grades • 7th grade caseload • 30 students- LD, EBD, OHI • Approx. 20 African American • Approx. 25 male

4. Information “borrowed” from: • Harry, B., Klingner, J., & Cramer, E. (2007). Case studies of minority student placement in special education. NYC: Teachers College Press. • Harry, B., & Klingner, J. (2007). Why are so many minority students in special education? NYC: Teachers College Press. • 28th Report to Congress on the Implementation of IDEA • Information from DPI website

5. Special Education Assessment Process

7. Disability as social construction • Not an argument that disability does not exist, but that society attributes certain meanings to the phenomenon • “When we look at a child’s learning or behavioral characteristics and interpret them as resulting from a ‘disability,’ we are applying a judgment that the point on the continuum at which the individual’s achievement falls is sufficiently different from an accepted norm to be considered pathological,” (Harry, Klingner, & Cramer, 2007).

8. Disability as social construction • Educable Mental Retardation • Cognitive Disability- Borderline • Mild Mental Retardation • Emotional/behavioral disorder • Specific learning disability

9. Overrepresentation • Proportions in certain categories is much higher than their proportion in the school system as a whole • Especially problematic in certain categories: • Cognitive disabilities • Learning disabilities • Emotional/behavioral disorders • And for certain groups: • African American students • Native American students • Boys Are there categories in which students are underrepresented?

10. Marvin Lynn • Teachers’ beliefs about African American students • How might teachers’ beliefs influence eligibility for special education? http://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=15835

11. 28th Report to Congress on the implementation of IDEA Question 1: For students ages 6 through 21, how does the proportion of a particular racial/ethnic group served under IDEA, Part B, compare to the proportion served of all of the same age students in all other racial groups combined? Question 2: To what extent are students with disabilities in different racial/ethnic groups being educated with their peers without disabilities?

12. Data from Wisconsin Retrieved from: http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/sped/spp-disp.html

14. Case Study: Marc • What teacher behaviors impacted Marc’s behaviors and participation? • Other Case Studies • In small groups, read a case study • Try to identify teacher behaviors, assumptions, and/or practices that affected the referral, assessment, and placement process • Discussion