What is disproportionality?
Disproportionality is when groups of students are under- or over-represented in special education.
This means that not all students have the opportunity to live up to their full academic and social potential.
What DOES disproportionality LOOK LIKE?
While disproportionality is measured in aggregate - by comparing how many minority students are enrolled in special education compared to non-minority students - the impact is felt at an individual level.
Here’s the student experience:
Meet Steve, a third-grade student who has behavioral issues that started in kindergarten.
The behaviors have led to many suspensions and modified school days. Steve, who is above average cognitively, has learned that if he misbehaves, he gets to go home and play video games.
He is assessed and taken away from his home school and placed in an alternative school setting, without a pathway back. He becomes “gone and forgotten.”
Meet Lisa, a fifth-grade student who has experienced changes in her behavior in recent weeks.
She is working with one of the best school psychologists in the district, but the assessment is rushed due to the high volume of high profile cases and many other priorities on the psychologist’s plate.
Lisa is assessed and qualified for an emotional disturbance, without input from a parent or home setting. No one checked that Lisa was diagnosed with a behavior disorder the month before.
Meet Kevin, an eighth-grade student who has been in a special day class school setting since second grade.
He gets along with his peers and has always been well-liked by his teachers. Outside of school, he is very active in boy scouts as well as baseball, where he serves as captain.
The challenges he receives outside of school empower him to raise his expectations, while at school he often does just enough to get by because the work is “easy” and he doesn’t feel challenged in the special day class setting.