| dc.description.abstract | Disproportionate enrollment of minorities in special education has been an equity issue in the United States for decades (Artiles, et al., 2010), often leading to case law and policy changes to provide corrective action. For example, in the 2004 amendments to the Individual with Disabilities Act (IDEA), the federal government mandated states to monitor such disproportionality. Despite years of examination, researchers have continued to explore complex issues of disproportionate enrollments because the problem persists despite policy and legal changes to the system. I examined English learners (Els) because the student group has not received as much attention in the literature, especially when compared to student race or gender (Waitoller et al., 2010).
I extended current research of ELs in special education by exploring the relationship between ELs and special education, and how student or school characteristics play a role in determining special education qualification. Enrollment of any student population can be significantly impacted by, and varied, at localized contexts. To further current literature, I examined the local enrollment patterns of a large, urban school district in the Southwest from 2014-2018.
The goals of the study were to (a) determine if there was a disproportionate enrollment of ELs in high-incidence categories of special education including specific; (b) determine if students were less likely or more likely to be classified as EL and a student with a disability (SWD) as their English-speaking peers, and (c) to determine the probability of a non-native English speaker qualifying as special needs in a large urban school district. I used composite indices, risk indices, logit regression, and multilevel probit modeling for the analysis. EL students were underrepresented and less likely to be enrolled in special education for all five years included in the study compared to their white and native English speaking peers. If EL students qualified for special education services, the EL students were most likely to have a disability of speech impairment. Further research should examine practices at the school level to determine if bias or exceptions are given to EL students before and during the special education qualifying process. | en |
