Blog #4 Jodie Bock

          Disproportionate representation in special education can still be a problem in today’s schools.  Two of the groups that have been overrepresented have historically been the African American and Latino populations.  “The overrepresentation of children of color is perhaps best understood as a relationship between family socioeconomic status and disability rather than between disability and minority group status per se. (Dove pg 9 para 2).  Living in poverty conditions can impact maternal health care which can lead to birth defects.  According to the March of Dimes Global study, investing in the care and prevention of birth defect reduces the rate of child mortality and disability. (March of Dimes Global report on Birth Defects, The hidden toll of dying and disabled children, 2006) Having programs to education lower income populations about the importance of maternal health is an important part to help prevent birth defects/disability, there for helping reduce the number of students needing special education services.

   A way to help the Latino children who only spoke Spanish is by using their native language in assessments.  Diana V California State Board of duration and Guadalupe Organization V Tempe Elementary School District were two pivotal cases to ensure that any child whose first language is not English, would not be assisted using English tests.  Where I live at in Columbiana County, the area is just now seeing an influx of Spanish speaking students.  When I substituted taught through the Columbiana County Educational Center, (ESC) ten years ago this was not a problem.  In the last five years, the numbers have been slowly increasing and the schools are having to address the problem in a culturally responsive way.

            According to Education for All, there are some promising solutions for the disproportionate representation in special education RIT, and culturally responsive instructional approaches I feel that RTI is a great way to help the disproportionate representation. Like every other special education program, it must be done correctly and have a top down approach.  If the admiration does not believe in it or support it, it will not work.  By providing quality instruction with closely monitoring all the children progress in the general education classroom all the students are able to get help.  Giving children intense support at level two is a way to help all students who are not progressing and hopefully get them caught up to their classroom peers.  Since this is done on a classroom basis there should be no discrimination against race or color.  In previous years, young African American boys especially were placed into special education at a disproportional rate because they were behind and not properly tested before being placed.  Once in special education, it is hard to get them out.  RTI would be a tool to help prevent this from happening.  One of the negative aspects of RTI is that it might take a year to get a child into Special Education.  While that is true, I feel that it is not too big of negative because the child is receiving extra help during that time frame. While cultural responsive approach is gaining popularity, “school culture and leadership must be aligned to be consistent with the goals at the classroom level, and schools and districts must be aware of and responsive to the dynamics and concerns in the communities they serve” (Jimenez, Graf) Until this happens, the rate of success will not be obtained. The schools must embrace their communities and population that they serve and become more informed on their cultures.