TY - JOUR
T1 - Are hispanic, asian, native american, or language-minority children overrepresented in special education?
AU - Morgan, Paul L.
AU - Farkas, George
AU - Cook, Michael
AU - Strassfeld, Natasha M.
AU - Hillemeier, Marianne M.
AU - Pun, Wik Hung
AU - Wang, Yangyang
AU - Schussler, Deborah L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2017.
PY - 2018/2/1
Y1 - 2018/2/1
N2 - We conducted a best-evidence synthesis of 22 studies to examine whether systemic bias explained minority disproportionate overrepresentation in special education. Of the total regression model estimates, only 7/168 (4.2%), 14/208 (6.7%), 2/37 (5.4%), and 6/91 (6.6%) indicated statistically significant overrepresentation for Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and English language learner (ELL) or language-minority children, respectively. Among studies with the strongest internal and external validity, none of the 90 estimates (i.e., 0%) indicated overrepresentation attributable to racial or ethnic bias. Of the 18 estimates for languageminority and ELL children combined, only 3 (16.7%) indicated overrepresentation attributable to language use. Two of the 4 ELL-specific estimates (50%) indicated that children receiving English-as-a-second-language services may be overrepresented in special education. Overall, and replicating findings from a prior best-evidence synthesis, this synthesis indicated that children are underidentified as having disabilities based on their race or ethnicity and language use.
AB - We conducted a best-evidence synthesis of 22 studies to examine whether systemic bias explained minority disproportionate overrepresentation in special education. Of the total regression model estimates, only 7/168 (4.2%), 14/208 (6.7%), 2/37 (5.4%), and 6/91 (6.6%) indicated statistically significant overrepresentation for Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and English language learner (ELL) or language-minority children, respectively. Among studies with the strongest internal and external validity, none of the 90 estimates (i.e., 0%) indicated overrepresentation attributable to racial or ethnic bias. Of the 18 estimates for languageminority and ELL children combined, only 3 (16.7%) indicated overrepresentation attributable to language use. Two of the 4 ELL-specific estimates (50%) indicated that children receiving English-as-a-second-language services may be overrepresented in special education. Overall, and replicating findings from a prior best-evidence synthesis, this synthesis indicated that children are underidentified as having disabilities based on their race or ethnicity and language use.
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U2 - 10.1177/0014402917748303
DO - 10.1177/0014402917748303
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85042190339
SN - 0014-4029
VL - 84
SP - 261
EP - 279
JO - Exceptional Children
JF - Exceptional Children
IS - 3
ER -