Unproven links: can poverty explain ethnic disproportionality in special education?

The high degree of overlap of race and poverty in our society has led to the presumption in both research and practice that ethnic disproportionality in special education is in large measure an artifact of the effects of poverty. This article explores relationships among race, poverty, and special education identification to arrive at a more precise estimate of the contribution of poverty to racial disparities. District-level data for all 295 school corporations in a midwestern state were analyzed for this study. Records included information on disability category, general and special education enrollment by race, socioeconomic level, local resources, and academic and social outcomes for 1 school year. Simple correlations among the variables demonstrate that correlations between race and poverty of even moderate strength do not guarantee that the 2 variables will function in the same way with respect to outcome variables, such as identification for special education services. Results of regression analyses indicate that poverty makes a weak and inconsistent contribution to the prediction of disproportionality across a number of disability categories. On the other hand, rates of suspension and expulsion consistently predict district rates of special education disproportionality. Inconsistent relationships between special education disproportionality and achievement may indicate a developmental trend in the systemic contribution to racial disparity. Ideal-type analyses examining race-poverty relationships indicate that where poverty makes any contribution above and beyond race in predicting disability identification, its primary effect is to magnify existing racial disparity.

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The disproportionality of culturally and linguistically diverse students remains among the most significant and intransigent problems in the field of special education. Yet although the fact of ethnic disproportionality (see Note 1) in special education service has been extensively documented, the variables that cause and maintain these racial disparities have only recently begun to be explored (Couthino & Oswald, 2000; Losen & Orfield, 2002; National Research Council ([NRC], 2002). One of the predominant explanations of special education disproportionality is the interaction of race and poverty. Given the unfortunate and high overlap of race and poverty in our society, it has been suggested that disproportionate minority referral to special education is linked less to race than to educational deficits among poor students of color that are created by socioeconomic disadvantage (MacMillan & Reschly, 1998). Others, however, have argued that a long history of school segregation means that poverty is in no way sufficient to explain minority disparities in special education (Losen & Orfield, 2002). This investigation analyzed data on ethnic disproportionality in special education from one midwestern state to specifically focus on the extent to which poverty contributes to racial disparity.

Background

Since the issue was first identified (Dunn, 1968; Mercer, 1973), racial disparities in special education service have been the focus of influential litigation (Larry P. v. Riles, 1984; PASE v. Hannon, 1980), extensive exploration of test bias (Jensen, 1980; Reynolds & Brown, 1984; Valencia & Suzuki, 2001), and federal panels (Heller, Holtzmann, & Messick, 1982; NRC, 2002). Explorations of the extent of disproportionality at the national (Chinn & Hughes, 1987; Finn, 1982; Harry & Anderson, 1994; Oswald, Coutinho, & Best, 2002; Oswald, Coutinho, Best, & Singh, 1999; Parrish, 2002; Zhang & Katsiyannis, 2002) and state (Coulter, 1996; Ladner & Hammons, 2001; Skiba, Wu, Kohler, Chung, & Simmons, 2001) levels have consistently found the greatest disparities in the disability categories of mental retardation and emotional disturbance. Disproportionality has been most consistently documented for African American and Native American students and identified less consistently for Latino students. Despite consistent documentation of the existence of disproportionality, there has been relatively little exploration of the possible causes and factors contributing to racial disparities in special education (NRC, 2002).

The Overlap of Race and Poverty

Among the predominant explanations offered for the existence of disproportionate ethnic representation in special education is the influence of poverty or socioeconomic disadvantage on the academic readiness of minority students. Poverty was the focus of the first of four questions addressed in the recent report of the NRC, Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education (2002): whether there are "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" (p. 357). Based on its review, the NRC panel concluded with a "definitive yes" and suggested that the effects of a number of biological and social factors could be subsumed under the broader heading of poverty.