An Integrative Synthesis of Literature on Disproportionality in Special Education

Abstract

Research studies have historically indicated that students from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds are overidentified for special education, suggesting bias in referral, assessment, and placement practices. Other studies, however, have suggested that students from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds are not overrepresented in special education or may be underidentified for services. There is a perceptual interpretive element in defining the problem of disproportionality, as the use of different data sets and analyses impact how both the problem and results are interpreted. The purpose of this manuscript was to examine the ways in which current studies analyze disproportionality through statistical methods, and to compare those analyses based on the conceptualization of covariates. An integrative systematic review of the literature builds on previous works that examine the issue of disproportionality.