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|  | |  | | | Why Are So Many Minority Students in Special Education?: Understanding Race & Disability in Schools | | | | | SKU:
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Usually ships in 1 business days | | Only 3 left in stock, order soon! | | | | | | This powerful book examines the disproportionate placement of Black and Hispanic students in special education. The authors present compelling stories representing the range of experiences that culturally and linguistically diverse students are apt to face in school. They examine the children's experiences, their families, interactions with school personnel, the teachers, and schools' estimation of the children and their families, and the school climate that influences decisions about referrals. Based on the authors' work in a large, culturally diverse school district, the book concludes with recommendations for improving educational practice, teacher training, and policy renewal. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Beth Harry | | Hardcover: | 207 pages | | Publisher: | Teachers College Pr | | Publication Date: | December 30, 2005 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0807746258 | | Product Width: | 159.25 centimeters | | Product Height: | 226.75 centimeters | | Product Weight: | 1.02 pounds | | Package Length: | 9.2 inches | | Package Width: | 6.3 inches | | Package Height: | 0.7 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.05 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 2 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 2 customer reviews )
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3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Little practical guidance, Jul 16, 2010
By ShannonAnna
The authors of this book aimed to describe the disparity in special education placement between minority and non-minority students. Most of the text focused on case studies in 12 schools, exploring factors such as interactions between families and staff, experiences of students, assumptions (both correct and incorrect) made by school staff about students and their families and communities, and school atmospheres in which each of the previous factors was observed. One of the key themes was succinctly stated by the authors: "The paradox arises when the classification system, instead of serving those in need, does them greater harm" (p. 13). This book examined that complex paradox, illustrating cases in which the referral to special education served those in need and in which it did more harm than good.
After providing a macro-view of the issue in the first chapter, the authors achieved their purpose best in the personal vignettes which offered insight into the experiences, biases, and challenges of each stakeholder in special education referrals: teachers, administrators, students, and parents/guardians. The initial focus was on 12 schools, and then the authors honed in on 12 individual students as the book progressed. The chapters examined the school setting and administrative structures in Chapters 2 and 3, the classroom environment in Chapter 4, the differences in perspective between school staff and families in Chapter 5, the decision-making process of referrals to and eligibility for special education in Chapter 6, issues pertaining to English language learners in Chapter 7, the paradox of classification through student case studies in Chapters 8-10, the benefit (or lack thereof) of special education services in Chapter 11, and the authors' recommendations in Chapter 12. Chapter 4 was particularly strong for classroom teachers because it applied to those factors most directly in their control: personal biases, teaching styles, and management systems. I Chapter 5 was also heavily applicable for teachers as they consider how to positively discuss students' families with other colleagues while setting aside biases, especially for students who struggling and/or from a low-income and/or minority background.
The end of each chapter contained a conclusion section which summarized the discussion for that chapter, more succinctly stated the problem at hand, and offered some suggestions. Most of the recommendations, however, were held until the final chapter of conclusions. The recommendations spanned from school-level suggestions (e.g., assigning students to classes and teachers in fair ways) to federal recommendations (e.g., eliminating the IQ-discrepancy formula for LD). For classroom teachers, though, most were outside of their control, with the exception of those relating to IEP meetings. Moreover, some recommendations contradicted each other: a federal recommendation on page 175 to allow special education to be provided to any student who needs services regardless of disability is followed on page 181 with the suggestion that class size be decreased in special education, and the authors provide no explanation for how to balance both those recommendations. Additionally, two of the strongest recommendations (emphasizing academic growth over the meeting of an absolute bar, re-creating a balance of power in relationships between schools and families) didn't provide enough elaboration for anyone reading the book to implement those recommendations without further research to determine what they mean and what they would look like in practice.
This book would be most beneficial to undergraduate students or new teachers. Additionally, it could provide useful real-world context for policy-makers and district-level staff who have little direct experience in special education. It clearly (and at times redundantly) describes the problem at hand without watering down the complexity and multi-faceted nature of the issues at play. While the recommendations offered in the final chapter do have their shortcomings, this could be construed as a strength as well as a weakness. This problem has no easy fixes, and any book offering sure-fire solutions would lack any credibility or grounding in the reality that not only are minorities overrepresented in special education but also "in many of the society's most detrimental circumstances" (p. 182).
For most experienced educators, though, it is the solutions that are needed (albeit not oversimplified or cursory ones), and the lack of meaningful, classroom-based solutions was the greatest weakness of this book. Educators rarely need more examples that typify the problem or illustrations of bias; what is lacking from the present body of research, from educational practice, and in large part from this book is the "what now?" piece. This is unfortunate because educators often know the problems firsthand; they just don't know what to do with them. Furthermore, as the authors focused on 12 students, it seems - from what they said about choosing the children and, even more so, from what they didn't say (i.e., they didn't claim to have tried to capture a cross-section of the population) - that they chose the 12 cases that would best support their hypotheses about student referrals and services. Twelve examples from 12 schools provided anecdotal support for the authors' arguments, but the isolated experiences of such a small group provide little evidence for systemic issues. Another weakness was that there were several places, including one section starting on page 107 titled "High-Stakes Testing as a Filter for a Disability," that imply that high rates of referrals are driven by testing; however, these sections are outdated due to NCLB changes that include the majority of students with disabilities in testing. While the authors did mention this issue in a footnote on page 176, much of the information prior to that with regard to testing was outdated and didn't include any footnotes. Finally, the authors emphasized the disservice rendered to struggling students who don't meet the qualifications for special education, often then slipping through the cracks, and attributed the blame for that to a deficiency in special education; conversely, though, one could argue that this is a failure of the lack of differentiation in general education instead of the downfall of the special education classification system.
I intend to recommend this book as a text to be read during training for pre-service special education teachers, so I do see its benefit. However, as one who expected to take more away from it than I did, it was a disappointment. It stated little that I didn't already know, and the conclusions and solutions it offers fell short in my estimation. The authors did a decent job in attempting what they set out to accomplish, but they would have been more effective if they chose a smaller focus area instead of attempting to explore multiple areas at a superficial level. On page 104, the authors mention that "school personnel readily sought the source of the children's problems in their home environments but seldom in their school environments." I feel that the authors were guilty of the same: focusing too little on the school environment. I think the book could have been more useful, especially to those in the classroom, if it spent more time analyzing what could be done differently in classroom environments in both general education and special education.
0 of 17 found the following review helpful:
 Why are so many minority students in special education?: Understanding Rady & Disability in schools Mar 10, 2008
By Karen Gray
I really can't give you a written review of this book because I purchased it for a professor to use for their class.
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