How are minority students, especially African American children misrepresented in special education?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Suggested Response:
• African American children are twice as likely to be labeled as white children and are the most overrepresented racial group in diagnoses of mental retardation. They are more likely than white students to be placed in restrictive settings rather than being placed in regular classrooms. When they are labeled as having emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) they are far more likely to be suspended, expelled, or removed from schools.
• When a racial group represents a significant part of a state's population, it is even more likely that children from this group will be overrepresented in special education classes.
• American Indian children also tend to be overrepresented in special education.
• Latino children are overrepresented in some states but underrepresented in others.
• Although Asian American/Pacific Islander children tend to be underrepresented in all special education categories in the United States as a whole, in Hawaii, where these children comprise 59% of all K–12 students, Asian American/Pacific Islander children are almost three and a half times more likely to be labeled mentally retarded.