The purpose of this study was to investigate the racial composition of mental retardation (MR), speech impairment (SPEECH), serious emotional disturbance (SED), and specific learning disability (SLD) classes in California during 1981. The basic unit of analysis was 96 Special Education Local Planning Areas (SELPAs) representing all school districts in the state. Using the criteria established by the court in the Diana and Larry P. cases, findings indicate that Hispanic students continue to be overrepresented in approximately one fourth of the SELPAs in MR, SPEECH, and SLD programs. Black students are overrepresented in MR and SPEECH programs in approximately one-fourth of the SELPAs, but in nearly two-thirds of the SELPAs in SLD programs. Minority students are overrepresented in SLD programs more frequently than in other program types.
This paper summarizes the ethnohistorical development of modern ethnography and assesses the potential of this research methodology for the study of bilingual classroom interactions. The focus of the summary and assessment is on the emic use of "context" as a tool for interpreting behaviour.Not until very recently did ethnographic research methods begin xo be used on the study of classroom interactions. A closer look at the ethnohistorical development of ethnographic research with the schools from the early 1950's to today reveals a common emic approach, and a highly eclectic use of diverse psychological, anthropological, sociological and linguistic theoretical frames. Ethnographic research in the classrooms does not only consist of new observational methods and new audio-or video-tape based analytical techniques. In addition, these new methods and techniques are specifically designed to study the context of social interaction on the assumption that context is a crucial factor determining behaviour.The application of ethnographic methods to the study of bilingual classroom interactions is here reviewed in its diverse methodological and theoretical settings. The bilingual classroom is looked at from the standpoint of the conceptual and analytical problems that the researcher must face in dealing with a bilingual and a bicultural population, particularly that of making appropriate inferences about the intended meaning in interactional events from the data gathered.
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