Abstract Evidence that there is misrepresentation of African American children in the United States Public Special Education system has been found. Several articles, an interview, and data gained from two events will be used as proof for the issue and will shed light on the resolution to the issue. An after-school program is proposed to provide support for special education students and their parents to assist students in completing high school and moving forward o postsecondary education. Keywords: African American, children, special education, public education, support.
For decades, America has worked towards dismissing its racist and prejudiced past. The slaves were liberated and, with no small amount of hard work, segregation was abolished—supposedly. Today we still see many instances of racism in our country, our neighborhoods, and even our schools. Today more and more African American students are left with the limited resources that poor school districts can offer. Following is an account of a typical school day for a high school senior at Normandy High School, the same school attended by the late Michael Brown: “Second period was jazz band. We went down to the jazz room, the jazz band room, and the instructor was not there. There was no substitute teacher. So Cameron said he normally goes to the counselor's office because this was not unusual. And we spent that whole entire hour talking about what his ambitions are, his history in the Normandy school system, and how he regretted not leaving… Third period physics class teacher, who is a permanent sub, hasn't taught since January, hasn't planned a lesson since then. Fourth period was precalculus taught by a retired teacher who does care and was teaching something. I went to lunch with Cameron. Then was choir, and then he had two periods of band. And so that was pretty much the rest of the day” (Glass, 2015). Upon listening to this account the thought occurred to me that if this was how general education is for African American students, special education must surely be worse. In researching this I discovered that the limited resources are only the tip of the iceberg. Not only are resources scarce, but more African American children are being recommended for special education instruction than White children. And with limited resources, these children suffer as any child would in a limited special education program.
The Research In investigating this issue, I referred to several articles and textbooks. Although funding and resources are an issue within our special education programs, the larger problem exists in the misrepresentation of all children of color in our special education classrooms, including African Americans. Special Education in Milwaukee (Obiakor, 2010) presents the problem of minority children, especially African Americans, being misidentified as disabled and misplaced in the special educational system where they do not receive the education they have a right to, as per the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004. This act states that each child, including the disabled, has the right to a free and proper education. This article explains how children are identified, selected, tested, and placed into a variety of special education classes with varying inclusion, or interacting with the general education students. Because of the disproportionate representation of African American students being selected and labeled as special needs, these children fail to succeed as they would in a regular general education classroom. The article presented many statistics on how many children were selected for special education and how many of those children were African American. The numbers given were astonishing! Roughly 1,300 students were selected one year and roughly 200 were white, the others were primarily African American (Obiakor, 2010).
Another insight given by this article is that the majority of teachers in the United States are white, middle-class females. This leads one to think that a lack of cultural understanding could have contributed to the misidentification for special education, as well as racism. One of the main points in this article is that the purpose of special education is to supplement general education and help students to manage their conditions in a way that helps them to be successful. Each year students are re-evaluated and either placed in the general education classroom, or must continue on with this supplemental special education. The problem lies in the label of being “disabled” or needing “special education.” These labels often discourage students and teachers, and prevent the students from ever reaching their true potential. Additionally, the public school system in Milwaukee has a program to attract prospective special education teachers to make up for the severe lack of qualified individuals. However, the program has these inexperienced individuals teaching, which goes against the IDEIA requirement that children are entitled to a qualified educator. So not only are the teachers not understanding of cultural differences, but they are ill-prepared to teach students with disabilities. The conclusion of the article stated that “If it takes a village to raise a child, then we need a city to save a school system” (Obiakor, 2010), prompting intervention and reform. The statistics of this school system showed that there was definite reason to be concerned about the disproportionate representation of African Americans. The numbers are so incredibly disproportionate in all grades and schools, showing that African American children are unjustly being selected for special education. The numbers suggest that an intervention is needed to determine whether there is cause to have all these children evaluated. And if these children really are in need of special education programs, they and their teachers deserve better resources. Disproportionate Representation explains that 50% of the African American children who are identified as having emotional and behavioral disorders drop out before graduating high school, and 73% of those individuals end up arrested before the end of five years (McKenna, 2013). There is evidence that supports that success is linked to obtaining a high school diploma and the authors aimed to show that many of these kids are misidentified, meaning their statistical drop-out rate could be changed if they were not misidentified as “disabled” or “special needs.” This particular article focused on empowering the students to change and challenge their educators to avoid misidentification. This strength-based intervention is to serve in two ways: to encourage students to take these challenges and adapt to them, and to keep the educators in check. Additionally, there is the problem of teachers who do not understand or appreciate diversity, and fail to see how cultural differences can manifest in behavioral differences. In conducting this research I realized that I was not so culturally diverse and, if I wanted to resolve the problem, I would need to envelope myself in the culture of those I wished to help. A friend of mine and previously a refugee from the Congo, Africa, Elie Kumungu, was gracious enough to allow me to interview him and ask questions regarding his African cultural views towards special education and those labeled as having disabilities. For example, many more African-Americans are placed into special education problems for emotional disturbance (i.e. depression, anxiety, anger issues, etc.) than any other race; is this justified or incorrect? Elie responded. “I do not think that these kids are actually depressed or mad. I believe it is just their way of getting attention. I mean, you yell and get angry. Why? So someone will hear you” (Kumungu, 2017). This took me aback. Elie assured me he did not believe the statistic was due to racism so much as it was due to a misunderstanding between two persons—namely, the teacher and the student. Though Elie is just one person with a single opinion, the fact that his ideas regarding this topic were so completely similar to my own views surprised me. I did ask Elie about the identification and acknowledgement of learning disabilities and emotional disorders in The Congo and his response directly coincided with what I had learned from Social Work Practice (Waites, 2008) and Explorations in Cultural Competence (Weaver, 2005). “Oh no, we do not believe in any of that. That is all just whining and whining gets you beaten. We did not have depression or anxiety or ADHD, whatever that is. We all learned in the same classroom and had the same expectations. And if you cried to your mama about school you’d be beaten again! And your bum, oh!” (Kumungu, 2017). So not only were learning disabilities not identified and accommodated in school, but the parents did not believe in them either. Additionally, I attended two cultural events to further immerse myself into the African-American culture. I attended the Women in Freedom Forum and a poetry reading organized by a group consisting primarily of African-Americans. Oppression was a major topic at both events, but so was unity. As I sat among these groups of people it was clear that, despite any persecution, oppression, or racist acts they might have been on the receiving end, they remained strong knowing they had a massive support group behind them. Lastly, the article Overcoming Obstacles introduces the original problem of African American students with disabilities performing to a lower standard and refers to previous studies that were conducted to find rhyme and reason to the poorer performance of these students in a special education setting. The authors of this article set out to highlight the themes for academic success for two high school-aged, African American females. The authors of this study interviewed the teachers of these children, the mothers, and the children themselves. Two things I found to be insightful from this article was the use of the phrase “It takes a village.” One of the dominant themes behind the success of these two girls was that they had a large support group, including family, teachers, and themselves. Each person interviewed for the study, the teacher, the mother, and the child, recognized they played a critical part in helping the child to succeed academically. This helped me to see that where there is little support, there is little success. Though we want independent children, capable of accomplishing amazing things, this just is not possible at such a young stage and in such a difficult situation as being African American and being labeled with a disability (Gatlin, 2016). Another insight I received was that expectations of the student must be set and for the student to succeed a standard must be upheld. We live in a society which expects little from minority groups and those who know little is expected from them perform very little. However, supplying a minority (such as an African American child with a disability) with expectations to meet and exceed challenges them to constantly improve and can help them to reach amazing goals. Though it was never explicitly stated, the goal of the article was to provide answers to the questions that concerned parents and teachers have been asking for decades: How can I help this child succeed? Because the children researched in this article are African American and disabled, and are out of the norm by being so successful, there is plenty of room to apply what was learned to help other African American students with disabilities. According to the article, these students need expectations set, a support group including the educators and the students, and organization (Gatlin, 2016). Each of these should be applied to attempt a change.
The Solution In performing this research, I began to develop a possible resolution for this problem. Members of the African-American community were supportive of each other. They are aware of the racism and prejudice, and educate their children in these topics. Their determination and unity can be used to resolve these problems, provided they are given the resources and organization. Additionally, given expectations and support to meet those expectations, any child can improve in school, as seen in Overcoming Obstacles. These findings helped me to see two things. Any program I design with these children in mind must (1) educate both the students and parents about their disorder or disability and (2) educate the whole family in the management of the disability or disorder. The way our schools are designed, kids are not meant to remain in special education for the duration of grade school. Given the student shows progress, they will be turned back over to the general education teacher. Where I believe the overrepresentation is also due to a lack of knowledge on the teacher’s part I would also like to be sure a part of my program educates the teachers on African-American culture and includes them in helping the student manage their disorder so as to be seen as “normal” in the eyes of public education. I propose the organization of an after-school program in a poorer public school district. When I envision this program, I see the application of all the key elements of success I have learned, including support and education for students, parents, and teachers, high expectations, and the means to meet these expectations. My organization would be aptly named “The Village,” as members of the African-American community are all a part of a greater village and with the assistance of all members, these misidentified special education children can break the stigma surrounding their label and become successful. The Village would focus on providing special education children with the resources they need to complete homework, such as peer tutors and volunteer tutors. Not only would tutoring be available, but extra-curricular activities would take place as well in an effort to provide a well-rounded education. Additionally, parents and local teachers could attend the free workshops provided to better their knowledge of different disabilities and how to tailor their assistance for each student. In providing this education to the members of the community, this program could eventually become self-sustainable. As long as parents are willing to become involved and be educated, their education alone could help them get their children into higher education. The ultimate goal of this program is to supplement any general and special education being taught and to encourage these children to work towards post-secondary education. It is my hope that, one day, a counselor might be brought on as a permanent staff member to assist students in applying for colleges and scholarships, as well as a test-taking specialist, to help students prepare for college level exams such as the SAT and ACT. This program would be piloted in a poorer school district, meaning it could reach and assist those students I am most concerned for, but without excluding students of other races. Where a poorer district would likely be unable to provide funding for the program, all staff would be considered unpaid volunteers. To obtain the necessary funding to start this program, there are a variety of organizations and charities that a program of this kind could appeal to. Additionally, students can contribute their time to creating items to sell as part of fundraisers, and donations of all kinds (i.e. monetary, materials, time, etc.) are always welcome. If it takes a village to raise a child, surely an educated and resourceful village can change the lives of the students who are misidentified as needing special education, as well the lives of those who truly need special education. My hope is to help educate and provide the resources for our village.
References Davis, A. K. (2017, February 8). Women in Freedom Movement Forum. (M. Goodwin, Interviewer) Gatlin, B. &. (2016). Overcoming Obstacles: African American Students with Disabilities Achieving Academic Success. Journal Of Negro Education, 129-142. Glass, I. (2015, July 31). 562: The Problem We All Live With. United States: This American Life. Kumungu, E. (2017, February 17). A Start in Congo. (A. Marshall, Interviewer) McKenna, J. (2013). The Disproportionate Representation of African Americans in Programs for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Preventing School Failure, 206-211. Obiakor, F. B. (2010). African American Students' Experiences with Special Education in Milwaukee Public Schools. Western Journal of Black Studies, 425-437. Olufeko, A. (2017, March 25). Readings from Yore in Kent. (Multiple, Performer) Junior League of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City, UT, United States. Retrieved from https://www.365poetry.org/ Scruggs, M. A. (2014). The Inclusive Classroom: Strategies for Effective Differentiated Instruction (Vol. 5th). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Educatio, Inc. Waites, C. (2008). Social Work Practice with African-American Families: An Intergenerational Perspective. New York: Routledge. Weaver, H. N. (2005). Explorations in Cultural Competence: Journeys to the Four Directions. Belmont: BROOKS/COLE.