It is hard to believe that in the twenty-first century, we have to worry about racism affecting the education of children in our schools. It is sad to see children who are perfectly typical being forced into special education when, in reality, they should be in the general education classroom. According to our textbook, Education For All, there are a few factors that contribute to the problem of Disproportionate Representation.
The first factor mentioned to contribute to this problem was the effect of poverty. Our textbook talks about how children who live in poverty are exposed to harmful toxins in the early stages of development and do not have access to nutritious foods. Children who come from low income homes do not have the opportunity to adequately grow in the areas of cognitive and emotional development. Our textbook also mentioned that families of color are more susceptible to these issues. This automatically puts children of different minorities at a disadvantage when starting to school. Due to this problem, children who come from low income homes will fall behind their peers.
The second factor that was mentioned was the different school factors that influence a child's education. Our textbook stated that when there is a large group of low-income, minority children in one school, that there are teachers who have less experience and not well-trained. Schools with this issue are less likely to offer advanced placement classes; therefore, this leaves the students at a disadvantage.
The third factor surrounds the issue of bias in the referral and assessment process. Since teachers are the ones who make referrals, their bias against a certain race or culture may influence where they recommend a student should be placed.
I think it is important for teachers not to label children from the start. As special educators, we say that you view the child as a child first, not the disability. It should be the same with race, color, or ethnicity. Educators should always remember that they are going to be a major part of a child's life and what they learn. Even though we only have these children in our care for eight hours a day, we still leave a huge mark on them, whether we realize it or not.
One strategy that I think works well is Response-to-Intervention (RTI). I really think that this model works well because it gives the child the opportunity to participate in the general education classroom to see how he/she does. The second tier of RTI involves a more intense intervention for children to did not make adequate progress in the first tier. The third tier of RTI often involves a recommendation to special education. Children are only moved to the third tier when they have not made enough progress in the second tier. The fact that this model does not require a child to be labeled right away helps reduce any chance of a child being placed in special education when it is not the appropriate placement.
RTI is a great way to lessen the effect of disproportionate representation within special education classrooms. I think the problem is that teachers today have so many demands on them that they just can't do it all. Of course everything boils down to money. In my perfect world, every teacher should have a paraprofessional in the classroom. Knowing that will never happen, I guess that school systems will continue to overload and overwhelm teachers at the cost of the students.
ReplyDeleteI completed see and agree with you when it comes to how you stated that schools with the majority of the students are low income families that many of the teachers are new with little to no experience. For a prime example, in a charter school I worked out three years in Youngstown, the year it first opened, three fourth of the teachers were straight out of college including myself. There was little to no experience, and with it being a brand new building as it is, no one had support or assistance from other teachers, because everyone was in the same position. Not saying that throughout the year and the two years to follow it improved greatly, and as teachers found different position the school did bring in teachers with experience, but not as often as new teachers. Along with class options, there was no advanced class options, because many teachers were not certified to teach those higher courses.
ReplyDeleteRTI is a wonderful process that provides students with the opportunity to participate in the regular education classroom setting with changes from the general education teacher. Over the years of teaching, I have seen multiple students that teachers were concerned about, start in the RTI process and never make it to the referral process, because with a few classroom interventions made a world of a difference for the student.