Minorities in Special Education

Behind Before They Begin

This book is about the unfortunate children who score on the wrong side of the Bell Curve. This growing underclass of disadvantaged children, especially Black and Hispanic minorities, is already behind their more privileged peers when they enter kindergarten. In spite of government programs to help them catch up, the achievement gap widens as they progress through the grades. Their efforts to succeed are met with a devastating amount of failure that dampens motivation and lowers self-esteem. Unfavorable response to classroom intervention and poor performance on proficiency tests cause frustration amongst teachers who are being pressured by administrators to raise test scores. Unwelcome in regular classrooms, disadvantaged children are being referred for testing for special education at earlier ages and in record numbers. With vague and ambiguous eligibility criteria, it is easy for disadvantaged children to qualify for special education. And they do. So, who is to blame for this predicament? In our view, it's not so much a question of who is at fault as it is what is at fault.