The editorial delves into the Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS), mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to address disparities in the treatment of students of color within local educational agencies (LEAs). When LEAs disproportionately identify students of color in certain categories or discipline them, they are labeled "disproportionate" or "significantly disproportionate."
The California Department of Education (CDE) State Performance Plan Technical Assistance Project (SPP-TAP) supports LEAs in CCEIS work by guiding them through data analysis, root cause identification, improvement planning, and implementation monitoring. Despite initial overwhelm, educators appreciate the structured approach provided by SPP-TAP TA Facilitators.
The editorial provides examples of successful strategies in districts like Evergreen Elementary Alameda Unified, and Pittsburg Unified such as engaging families through community liaisons and personalized learning plans for "focal scholars." It discusses efforts to address racism, cultural disconnect, and implicit bias through staff training and community outreach. There’s also a focus on empathy and inclusion, alongside efforts to dissolve traditional disciplinary methods and address cultural biases, exemplifies a commitment to equity.
Citation: California Department of Education. 2024 Addressing Disproportionality: Hard Work and Heart Work 2024, www.sipinclusion.org/2024/03/11/the-special-edge-newsletter-winter-2023/. Accessed 14 May 2024.
Teacher adjusted bias levels are lower in counties with larger demographics of Black students. In counties where teachers hold higher levels of implicit and explicit racial bias have larger adjusted White/Black test score inequalities and White/Black suspension disparities.
Chin, M. J., Quinn, D. M., Dhaliwal, T. K., & Lovison, V. S. (2020). Bias in the air: A nationwide exploration of teachers’ implicit racial attitudes, aggregate bias, and student outcomes. Educational Researcher, 49(8), 566–578.
This article examines how a focus on the achievement gap has overshadowed ways in which school systems constrain student achievement through trends of racial disproportionality in areas such as school discipline, special education assignment, and juvenile justice; the article considers these racial disparities as issues of institutionalized racism.
Annamma, Subini, Morrison, Deb, and Jackson, Darrell. 2014. “Disproportionality Fills in the Gaps: Connections Between Achievement, Discipline and Special Education in the School-to-Prison Pipeline.” Berkeley Review of Education 5 (1).
This article examines how a focus on the achievement gap has overshadowed ways in which school systems constrain student achievement through trends of racial disproportionality in areas such as school discipline, special education assignment, and juvenile justice; the article considers these racial disparities as issues of institutionalized racism.
Annamma, Subini, Morrison, Deb, and Jackson, Darrell. 2014. “Disproportionality Fills in the Gaps: Connections Between Achievement, Discipline and Special Education in the School-to-Prison Pipeline.” Berkeley Review of Education 5 (1).
This research article demonstrates that racial/ethnic disparities continue to exist for minoritized communities, noting that White students were overrepresented as having autism in special education. Caregiver perspectives were gathered and the data showed that English speaking parents were more likely to identify early signs of autism.
Paul Luelmo, Hall, Laura J., and Estrellado, R. 2022. Examination of Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality of Autism in California.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1750946722000885 (accessed September 16, 2022).
This brief two-page document outlines the fundamental aspects of significant disproportionality for State and Local Educational Agencies. According to IDEA Section 618, states are required to collect and examine data to identify significant disproportionality among the seven federally identified race and ethnicity categories in:
Identification of children as having disabilities.
Placement in less inclusive educational settings.
Incidence, duration, and type of disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions.
States use 98 separate calculations for each Local Education Agency (LEA) to determine the presence of significant disproportionality. These calculations must follow a standard methodology and analyze disparities based on race/ethnicity in identification, placement, and discipline.
Citation: The Data Center for Addressing Significant Disproportionality. 2023. “Significant Disproportionality: For SEAs and LEAs.” https://dcasd.org/resources/SigDisproIntro-SEA.pdf (accessed, June 14, 2024).
