Differential effects of sociocultural variables on special education eligibility categories

Abstract

The influence of sociocultural factors (ethnicity, socioeconomic status, father absence, and family size) on special education eligibility was examined for three ethnic groups. A multiple regression procedure was used to analyze the data on 300 students referred for evaluation and found to be either not eligible for services or eligible for services as mentally retarded or learning disabled. Results indicated that only socioeconomic status and ethnicity made a significant contribution to the prediction of all three groups. Individually, father absence and family size did not contribute to the prediction of special education eligibility. Results of this study suggest that legislative mandates to control for sociocultural factors in the determination of special education eligibility have been only partially successful.In recent years, considerable attention has been directed to the disproportionate number of students from low socioeconomic status and ethnic minority backgrounds receiving special education services. Legislation regarding the overrepresentation of minorities in special education has resulted in controversies related to eligibility, identification, and placement of students from different sociocultural and socioeconomic environments (Dunn

Multicultural Aspects of Parent Involvement in Transition Planning

“…T h e United States continues to grow increasingly diverse and by the year 2050, the U.S. Bureau of the Census projects that culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) groups will represent a numerical majority (Sue, Bingham, Porche-Burke, & Vasquez, 1999). National statistics further reveal that an unequal number of students from ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse backgrounds receive special education services (Argulewicz, 1983;Barona & Faykus, 1992;Harry, 1992a;Shinn, Tindal & Spira, 1987). For example, Harry and Anderson (1994) found that while…”

Sources of bias in special needs provision in mainstream primary schools: evidence from two British cohort studies

“…Much of this research has been carried out in the USA and it is unknown whether the same processes operate in Britain. In addition, the work has mainly been carried out using small-sample case studies (Rubin et al, 1973;Roberts, 1975;Barona and Faykus, 1992), using experimental paradigms (Amira et al, 1977;Hendren and Routh, 1979;Matuszek and Oakland, 1979;Podell and Soodak, 1993) or, in one instance, an ecological study (Gelb and Mizokawa, 1986). No large-scale naturalistic studies have been carried out, to date, in a British setting.…”