Who Is Placed into Special Education?

Abstract

We use nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to identify variables measured in the fall of 1998 (when the sample’s students were in kindergarten) that predict special education placement by the spring of 2004 (when those not retained were finishing fifth grade). Placement’s strongest kindergarten predictor is a student’s own level of academic achievement. Also important is the student’s frequency of classroom task engagement. There is a “frog-pond” contextual effect -- attending an elementary school with high levels of overall student academic ability and behavior increases a student’s likelihood of special education placement. This is the case even after statistically controlling for a wide range of individual-, family-, and school-level characteristics. Social class background displayed a weak or statistically non-significant relation with special education placement. However, girls are placed less frequently than boys. African American, Hispanic, and Asian students are placed less frequently than non-Hispanic whites. The under- or equal-placement rates for racial/ethnic minorities are partially explained by their concentration in high-minority schools.

Selection for special education services: the role of gender and socio-economic status

“…In contrast, the influence of SES on SE is attenuated once academic achievement is statistically controlled (Hibel, Farkas, and Morgan 2010;Skiba et al 2005). Notably, however, these prior works did not consider prior SE, something we do in the present enquiry.…”

“…Cross-nationally, boys outnumber girls among SE students (Coutinho and Oswald 2005;Dyson and Gallannaugh 2008;Hibel, Farkas, and Morgan 2010;Nordahl and Sunnevåg 2008), and the same is true for children from low-SES families (Hibel, Farkas, and Morgan 2010;Pihl 2010). This would seem appropriate given that boys have been found to have more mental health problems than girls (e.g.…”

“…Indeed, children with mental health problems often receive SE services (Knudsmoen et al 2011;Nordahl and Sunnevåg 2008;Schnoes et al 2006). Not surprisingly, children with poor school achievement receive SE considerably more often than their better-performing peers (Hibel, Farkas, and Morgan 2010;Sullivan et al 2009). Based on such findings, the greater prevalence of mental health problems, as well as lower academic achievement among boys and low-SES students, could explain the disproportionality of gender and SES in SE.…”

“…It is equally important to ensure that those not in need of SE are not offered it, and to recognise that such students may have other needs that could be better met with different approaches and policies. Previous research indicates that boys, students growing up in poverty, and those who are ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented in SE (Banks 2012;Dyson and Gallannaugh 2008;Hibel, Farkas, and Morgan 2010;Hosp and Reschly 2004;Ministry of Education and Research 2011;Skiba et al 2005;Statistics Finland 2014;Sweller, Graham, and Van Bergen 2012). These observations raise the question of whether SE placement is truly due to students' emotional, behavioural, and/or learning difficulties or whether cultural selection and bias play an influential role in assigning students to SE.…”

“…These observations raise the question of whether SE placement is truly due to students' emotional, behavioural, and/or learning difficulties or whether cultural selection and bias play an influential role in assigning students to SE. Although a few previous studies have addressed this issue (Coutinho and Oswald 2005;Hibel, Farkas, and Morgan 2010;Skiba et al 2005), the available research is primarily cross-sectional in design and, when longitudinal, lacks information on initial SE. Consequently, it has proven difficult to disentangle the effect of selection for SE from potential effects of these services.…”