Why Are So Many Minority Students in Special Education?: Understanding Race and Disability in Schools / Edition 2

by Beth Harry, Janette Klingner

Overview

The second edition of this powerful book examines the disproportionate placement of Black and Hispanic students in special education. The authors present compelling, research-based stories representing the range of experiences faced by culturally and linguistically diverse students who fall in the liminal shadow of perceived disability. They examine the children’s experiences, their families’ interactions with school personnel, the teachers’ and schools’ estimation of the children and their families, and the school climate that influences decisions about referrals to special education. Based on the authors’ 4 years of ethnographic research in a large, culturally diverse school district, the book concludes with recommendations for improving educational practice, teacher training, and policy renewal.

The expanded second edition retains all of the vividly described cases of the original research and brings additional insight to the issue of disproportionality by:

• Reframing the policy context to address key developments in the placement process, with a particular focus on Response to Intervention.
• Including a new appendix that describes and reflects on the challenges, strengths, and dilemmas of the research methodology of the study.
• Updating the figures and literature on disproportionality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807755068
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	05/02/2014
Edition description:	2
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Beth Harry is a professor of special education and chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Miami. She is also the founder of the Immortelle Center for Special Education in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Janette Klingner is a professor at the University of Colorado in Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity. She is president elect for the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and a vice-president for the International Academy for Research on Learning Disabilities.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the 1st Edition Lisa D. Delpit vii

Foreword to the 2nd Edition Alfredo J. Artiles xi

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

1 Overview: Ethnic Disproportionality in Special Education 1

2 School Structure: Institutional Bias and Individual Agency 30

3 Cultural Consonance, Dissonance, and the Nuances of Racism 48

4 In the Classroom: Opportunity to Learn 65

5 The Construction of Family Identity: Stereotypes and Cultural Capital 78

6 At the Conference Table: The Discourse of Identity Construction 99

7 Bilingual Issues and the Referral Process 122

8 Constructing Intellectual Disability: Cracks and Redundancies 132

9 Constructing Learning Disabilities: Redundancies and Discrepancies 141

10 Constructing Emotional/Behavior Disorders: From Troubling to Troubled Behavior 155

11 Into Special Education: Exile or Solution? 168

12 Conclusion 182

Epilogue: Research Methods: Who Are We and How Did We Do This Research? 194

References 217

Index 229

About the Authors 237

What People are Saying About This

“Harry and Klingner’s work makes a substantial contribution to a new generation of equity research concerned with the complexities of 21st-century education in pluricultural societies.”
—From the Foreword to the second edition by Alfredo J. Artiles, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University

From the Publisher

“Harry and Klingner’s work makes a substantial contribution to a new generation of equity research concerned with the complexities of 21st-century education in pluricultural societies.”
—From the Foreword to the second edition by Alfredo J. Artiles, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University

“The authors ask that we not concern ourselves with the kind of labeling and sorting that can serve to reinforce the negative stereotypes that this country’s history has spawned. We just need to teach students what they need to know.”
—From the Foreword to the first edition by Lisa D. Delpit, Florida International University

Editorial Reviews

"This book provides a thorough and detailed description of the multiple factors that combine to provide inequitable educational opportunities for minority students living in poverty…the authors do not shy away from discussion of racism on the individual and institutional levels....they engage in this discussion in a refreshingly detailed and nuanced way..."

- Teachers College Record (first edition)

"This book provides a thorough and detailed description of the multiple factors that combine to provide inequitable educational opportunities for minority students living in poverty…the authors do not shy away from discussion of racism on the individual and institutional levels....they engage in this discussion in a refreshingly detailed and nuanced way..."

- TC Record (first edition)

From the Publisher