(Download) "Within-Group Diversity in Minority Disproportionate Representation: English Language Learners in Urban School Districts." by Exceptional Children * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Within-Group Diversity in Minority Disproportionate Representation: English Language Learners in Urban School Districts.
- Author : Exceptional Children
- Release Date : January 22, 2005
- Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 253 KB
Description
The disproportionate representation of minority students has haunted the special education field for more than 3 decades (Artiles, Trent, & Palmer, 2004). This problem includes overrepresentation (typically in high incidence disabilities) and underrepresentation in programs for students with gifts and talents; by far, the disproportionality scholarship has focused on the overrepresentation problem. Most scholars agree disproportionate representation is a problem as reflected in the appointment of two National Research Council (NRC) panels to examine this problem in a relative short time period (Donovan & Cross, 2002; Heller, Holtzman, & Messick, 1982), recent federal mandates to monitor this problem, and the creation of a national technical assistance center to support states in their efforts to address the problem. Answers to key questions about this problem are not straightforward. For instance, the latest NRC report asked two crucial questions (Donovan & Cross, 2002, pp. 357-359): (a) [Are there] "biological and social/contextual contributors to early development that differ by race and that leave students differentially prepared to meet the cognitive and behavioral demands of schooling?" and (b) does "the school experience itself contribute to racial disproportion in academic outcomes and behavioral problems that lead to placement in special and gifted education?" The panel's response to both questions was affirmative. To the fundamental question about differential outcomes--"Does special education ... provide a benefit to students, and is that benefit different for different racial/ethnic groups?"--the NRC panel responded: "The data that would allow us to answer the question adequately do not exist."