Overrepresentation Of Students Research Articles

A Research-Based Literacy Instruction MTSS for Juvenile Correctional Facilities

A major challenge for juvenile correctional facilities (JCF) is providing literacy instruction to a transitory student population with a wide range of literacy abilities. The purpose of this study was to identify unique literacy profiles of students in long-term JCF taking into consideration their reading abilities, language abilities, intelligence quotient (IQ), disability classification, age, and grade level. Using latent profile analyses with a sample of 370 in the southeastern United States, we identified three distinct classes. Three ability groups of students (average literacy abilities, below-average literacy abilities, substantially below-average literacy abilities) were identified. Thirty-six percent performed at the average level, 55% performed below grade level; and 8% had substantial literacy deficits with an overrepresentation of students with emotional disturbance (ED) and specific learning disability (SLD). Findings provide the foundation for an evidence-based multi-tiered system of supports literacy framework within JCF. Instructional implications concerning the provision of English Language Arts in JCF are provided.

Elite universities in Chile: Between social mobility and reproduction of inequality

The Chilean Higher Education System can be considered an exemplary case of massification based on the privatisation and heterogenisation of universities. These processes have created a dual system, with a large group of universities for mass education versus a small group of universities focused on educating elites. In this context, this paper aims to analyse the ethos and missions of elite universities and programmes, their selection mechanisms, and students’ socioeconomic and cultural background. Eight case studies were selected, and different data collection techniques were used: interviews with academics, non-participant observations, students’ survey and secondary data analysis. Results show that these elite universities (characterised by overrepresentation of students from the upper and middle-upper classes, high levels of excellence and prestige, and academic selection processes or high fees) respond to their own market niche’s needs, differentiating themselves not only from ‘mass universities’ but also from each other. To achieve this, each elite university has its own vision, set of values and practices. Despite these differences, all the elite universities and programmes seek to face the current tertiary massification scenario by opening up to student social diversity ensuring, however, that these changes do not structurally modify their sociocultural composition or their institutional mission.
 Received: 4 December 2020Accepted: 20 April 2022

Special education teachers of color and their beliefs about dis/ability and race: Counter-stories of smartness and goodness

Teacher beliefs about race and dis/ability 1 are important in understanding how teachers educate and support students of color with dis/abilities. This is particularly critical because of the overrepresentation of students of color in special education, irrelevant curriculum, and poor post-school outcomes which continue to impact students of color with dis/abilities in US public schools. Using qualitative counter-stories of goodness and smartness, this study highlights the expressed beliefs of two special education teachers of color, Leena and Leonardo, who were completing a special education teaching credential program at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in Southern California. The teachers were asked to compose a series of short and long reflections as part of two courses centering dis/ability and race. They also participated in follow-up interviews in which they reflected on their beliefs and experiences with the intersections of dis/ability and race. Courses were intentionally restructured using Dis/ability Studies and Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), and analyses specifically focused on how participants were positioned through the framework of smartness and goodness. Findings revealed how the experiences of special education teachers of color across time and space were filled with examples of racism and ableism that shaped their beliefs and identities as teachers of color and teachers committed to racial and dis/ability justice. Each counter-story also highlights the challenges special education teachers of color face because of their experiences of multiple and intersecting oppressions.

Double Jeopardy? Disproportionality in First Juvenile Court Involvement by Disability Status

The overrepresentation of youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system is a persistent concern, but estimates of their involvement vary dramatically due to differences in how disability is conceptualized and when involvement in juvenile justice is measured. This study linked juvenile court and educational records for 230,760 students in one state to describe the involvement of students with and without disabilities in juvenile court. Overrepresentation of students with disabilities was not robust to sociodemographic controls (relative risk ratio [RR] = 1.07) but varied by disability category such that students with emotional or behavioral disorders (RR = 1.98) and other health impairments (RR = 1.12) remained overrepresented. Students with disabilities were charged with more severe offenses than their peers without disabilities and were more likely to be petitioned to court with a higher degree of offense even after controlling for the type of offense. Implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed.

Troubling “The Problem” of racial overrepresentation in special education: a commentary and call to rethink research

ABSTRACT Despite decades of research, there has been limited reduction in the overrepresentation of students of colour in high incidence special education categories. This commentary article seeks to problematise the notion of overrepresentation as it is currently conceptualised in educational research, and serves as a call to rethink how, why, and for whom we do this research, contextualised within a history of both racism and ableism in the United States. First, we assert that the field of special education, as epistemologically configured, has framed the problem of overrepresentation in ways that it cannot resolve, leaving us to call for a much needed change in how we research this phenomenon. Second, we challenge some basic assumptions within existing research practices to date, countering them with alternative knowledge claims. Third, to engage with, and potentially reframe researchers’ understanding of overrepresentation, we pose a variety of questions to contemplate within the interconnected domains of research, theory, practice, and policy. Fourth, we list promising existing research practices around overrepresentation by scholars committed to exploring its complexities. Finally, we offer further suggestions for potential ways to address challenges by centring the framework for considering overrepresentation as primarily social, cultural, historical, and contextual, that would move beyond the limited and ineffective response of special education to date.

“It’s all about the ganas”: Incorporating a Multicultural Curriculum in Developmental Education

ABSTRACTDespite the overrepresentation of students of color in developmental education, there is a lack of research on programs that promote the success and transfer of these students beginning in developmental education, especially Latinx students. Since 2012, the Dream Catchers program in Texas has targeted the recruitment, retention, and completion of Latinx and other historically underrepresented students through a literacy-based program that targets students in developmental education in community colleges. This study draws primarily from interview data gathered from 14 Dream Catchers faculty across the 10 institutions that have participated in the program. Through the lens of a multicultural developmental education curriculum, we investigate how the Dream Catchers program provides intensive, long-term professional development for its faculty in order to prepare them to work in a high-touch, holistic program. This article describes some of the professional development activities faculty undergo, what this multicultural curriculum looks like in practice, and how faculty incorporate cultural understanding of their students into developmental courses.

A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda for Organ Donation Decision Communication.

This study systematically located and appraised peer-reviewed evidence for the efficacy of strategies to increase organ donation decision communication among adults including an assessment of study quality to guide future research in this field. There is little room to move in strengthening unanimously positive public attitudes toward organ donation. Consequently, researchers have called for a focus on organ donation decision communication to understand modifiable factors to increase organ donation rates. Multiple databases were searched during September 2015, and 44 studies were selected for inclusion. Data concerning participants, design, and outcomes were extracted. Studies were rated for quality and levels of evidence. Although not amenable to meta-analysis, the literature indicates that approximately 50% of adults who are willing to become an organ donor have discussed this decision with family. The majority of research was conducted in a Western context with an overrepresentation of students. Strategies to increase communication include education, motivation, input from lived experience, efforts to address salient audience beliefs, and scheduled reminders or prompts. Intentions and willingness to discuss organ donation were consistently positively related to discussion behavior; however, formative research and experimental studies testing theoretically driven interventions were scarce. There is mixed evidence for the role of demographic and attitudinal characteristics in the success of organ donation communication interventions. Additional theoretically based research is recommended to establish boundary conditions and validate strategies to increase organ donation decision communication among adults.

FRI0529 Occupational Status of Patients with Childhood Onset Rheumatologic Diseases

ObjectivesTo assess the labour market entry and the labour market performance of a cohort of patients followed in the transition program of a Pediatric Rheumatology Unit.MethodsA survey of patients followed...

Disabling Juvenile Justice

One of the field’s most enduring problems is the overrepresentation of students of color in special education. A less acknowledged challenge is the overrepresentation of students with disabilities in juvenile incarceration. Quantitative studies have documented the overrepresentation of students with disabilities in juvenile justice. Yet, little is known about the education they receive once they become incarcerated. This qualitative study examined the education of 10 young women of color labeled with emotional disabilities in the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Through in-depth interviews and observations, this study explored the following questions: (a) What processes and practices impact juvenile incarceration education for students with historically marginalized identities (e.g., disability, gender, race, culture)? (b) How is the education of young women of color with disabilities affected by these processes and practices? Findings illustrate how socializing processes and practices aimed at control and compliance constrain education in juvenile justice but also provide an opportunity to do better.

A critical reflection on the use of an embedded academic literacy program for teaching sociology

New government education policies stress both social justice and economic imperatives. The tensions between these goals for universities are familiar themes for critique. The diversity, and shift in cultural capital among university students is also a concern. The authors of this article teach sociology at an Australian university with a comparative over-representation of students with low levels of cultural capital in academic literacy: research, reading and writing skills. In this article we outline and discuss the approach and outcomes of a pilot online program ‘Leap into Sociology’, developed to help sociology students increase their academic literacy in sociology. The program is, like other academic skills support programs, premised on an understanding that the development of academic research and writing skills needs to be ‘embedded’ in discipline units to be most useful for students. Our discussion considers these challenges in relation to current tensions in higher education work and policy contexts.

The Minority Report: Disproportionate Representation in Australia's Largest Education System

The overrepresentation of students from minority ethnic groups in separate special education settings has been extensively documented in North America, yet little research exists for Australian school systems. The authors of this study systematically analyzed 13 years of enrollment data from the state of New South Wales and found stark, increasing differences in patterns of enrollment between Indigenous students, students from a language background other than English (LBOTE), and non-Indigenous English-speaking students. Although enrollments of Indigenous students in separate settings increased faster across time than did enrollments of Indigenous students in mainstream, enrollments of LBOTE students in mainstream increased faster than did enrollments of LBOTE students in separate settings.

Cross-Cultural Collaboration for Locally Developed Indigenous Curriculum

For over 400 years, Wabankaki children of Maine and eastern Canada have been assimilated into schools established by European immigrants. Low high school graduation rates, poor achievement outcomes, and overrepresentation of students in special education reveal an “invisible crisis” that threatens the survival of the indigenous culture and communities. Here we describe a collaborative cross-border project between the Gesgapegiag Mi’gmaq First Nation and northern Maine university professors that produced culturally based curricula in science and early childhood education. Our work involved indigenous ownership, cultural content, language, and instructional strategies.

Breaking containment – the power of narrative knowing: countering silences within traditional special education research

Special education has been critiqued for not adequately acknowledging and therefore addressing the overrepresentation of students of colour assigned disability labels. To counter the paucity of information about the largest group of disabled students in urban settings, eight young adults labelled learning disabled (LD) co‐created ‘portraits in progress’. These social, cultural, and historical based narratives act as counter stories to traditional special education research located within a medical‐model paradigm that casts students as deficit‐based. Excerpts from these highly personal narratives reveal nuanced understandings of power dynamics pertaining to disability, race, and social class as each one shapes the experience of the others. Participants perceive their lives as a series of interlocking containments; for some, special education is one example.

Racial and Ethnic Representation in Gifted Programs

The Elementary and Secondary School Survey data and Civil Rights Data Collection of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) were analyzed to describe the issue of overrepresentation of gifted Asian American students in gifted education programs in the United States. Nationally, Asian and Whites have been overrepresented in gifted education since 1978, whereas, students from other ethnic backgrounds, such as those from American Indian or Alaska Native, Hispanic, and African American groups, have been underrepresented with gradual increases in this underrepresentation since 1994. When the data were disaggregated by state for the period from 2002 to 2006, each racial and ethnic group displayed varied ranges of representation. Those varied distributions can be attributed to each state's unique demographic profile, varied definitions of giftedness, identification procedures, and identification policies. By focusing on Asian American students, this study addressed some difficulties that gifted Asian American students may face concerning the image of model minority and through the acculturation processes as immigrants or descendents of immigrants. Furthermore, this study suggests a need for disaggregated data collection and more research concerning gifted Asian American students from various ethnic Asian groups. Putting the Research to Use: Findings from this study highlight the need for carefully collected data in the field of gifted education concerning race and ethnicity of students in programs and provide the reader with a picture of both underrepresentation and overrepresentation of students by state and ethnic group. Attention needs to be paid to sub-groups within categories of race and ethnicity to understand representation. By considering the issue of Asian Americans and their overrepresentation, this research has raised awareness about factors, such as identification processes, acculturation, and academic motivation that might promote recognition of giftedness among some ethnic groups. Finally, this research offers readers with a new, multiple-year, current, analysis of the representation in gifted programs nationally and by state for racial/ethnic groups, an area of continued concern to those in the field of gifted education.

Sociological Theories of Learning Disabilities: Understanding Racial Disproportionality in Special Education

Many researchers have applied sociological theory to concepts of physical disability, leading to the “social model” used by disability advocates and activists, but less work has been done to provide a sociological frame for learning disabilities. Students with learning disabilities have constituted the fastest-growing special education population in public school districts, particularly students of color. Though the overrepresentation of students of color in special education programs is well documented, few efforts have been made to apply sociological theories to expand our understanding of this phenomenon. This article provides an overview of this application to the study of learning disabilities and special education, with particular attention to the disproportionate involvement of minority youth in educational programs for students with disabilities.

Location and Education: Transnational Strategies among Swedish Students in New York in the Late 1990s

On the basis of a survey and a series of interviews carried out in 1998, this article attempts to sort out Swedish students' educational, professional, social, economic, and cultural gains associated with type of educational institution and geographical location of their studies. The region which was studied, the Northeastern U.S., includes a large number of very distinguished educational institutions as well as it is one of the most economically, culturally, and politically important regions in the world. The types of institutions attended by the Swedish students follow certain logics. The most sought-after and prestigious institutions had an overrepresentation of students with large amounts of different types of capitals (cultural, educational, economic, and social), while the most dominated institutions on the American educational market, such as the least competitive universities and the community colleges, attracted students with significantly smaller resources. However, we do not see the same degree of homology between the concentration of resources in the geographical space and the different characteristics of the students. In fact, the students with fewer resources most strongly preferred the most important and powerful region, the New York Metropolitan Area. Thus it seems that the more resourceful students invested in relatively safe options, that is, the most prestigious seats of learning, while students from more modest backgrounds and with less successful educational careers were referred to more uncertain alternatives, either in the form of studies at institutions with less prestige, where the value of the diplomas are limited, or at places where the competition is severe.

Why Are All the Black Kids Still in Special Education?Revisiting the Issue of Disproportionate Representation

The overrepresentation of students of color in special education continues to be a prevalent, disturbing, and heavily debated problem in this country. What remains is the reality that a large number of African American students continue to be referred and placed in special education programs. On the heels of 2 reports commissioned by the National Research Council (1982, 2002) specifically addressing the issue of disproportionate representation, it seems fitting to revisit this topic through the lens of an urban elementary school attempting to translate findings from recent and relevant research to build a culturally responsive system specifically aimed at reducing disproportionate representation.

Assessment for Eligibility: Issues in Identifying Students with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

This article presents an overview of several problems associated with assessing students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) for eligibility. Major issues include underidentification of students in the category of EBD and the continuing overrepresentation of students of minority ethnicity. Movement away from the traditional norm-referenced approach to assessment toward a more functional approach seems to offer the most promise for addressing these concerns.

Comparison of course evaluations by random and volunteer student samples.

Ratings of the effectiveness of courses are usually based on students' voluntary responses to evaluation questionnaires. It is a rare course for which all students complete evaluation forms. This self-selection may result in an overrepresentation of students who are highly pleased or greatly disgruntled, thus biasing the evaluation. Responses of an unbiased random sample of students were compared with the responses of a self-selected sample for the evaluations of two medical school courses. There was no evidence of bias introduced by self-selection for either mean ratings or the variance of responses on a question-by-question basis for eight questions included in the evaluations of both classes. When responses were investigated across items, the patterns of differences between the random and voluntary samples appeared to be unique to each class.