Despite decades of research examining the disproportionate representation of racial minority students in special education, our understanding of the complexity of disproportionality remains incomplete and much of the previous research was designed without a clear theoretical framework. This exploratory study applied a structural theoretical lens…

The emergence of Response to Intervention (RTI) anticipates a different future for all students, particularly learners from racial minority backgrounds and students with disabilities. RTI is being widely adopted in school districts as a viable alternative to enhance learning opportunities; hence, some education scholars argue it promises a…

This article examines the cultural nature of research. This is a consequential idea as research knowledge is expected to inform professional practices for our increasingly multicultural society. We highlight theoretical and methodological limits of the traditional practice of research on cultural groups and outline research as situated cultural…

In this article, I propose a model to re-frame disproportionality research, which addresses key limitations in this literature. I present a brief overview of the problem and situate it in the historical context in which race and ability became intertwined. I then argue that a cultural-historical understanding of disproportionality requires…

Minority student disproportionate representation in special education has been debated and (increasingly) studied in the United States for the past 40 years. The purpose of this article is to place this problem in the larger arena of equity studies related to "difference" in educational practice and propose a comparative model to study…

In examining the disproportionate representation of minority groups in special education, this article recommends the inclusion of philosophical and ethical perspectives to broader theoretical paradigms and the open acknowledgement in research efforts that issues related to ethnicity, race, and language background are highly contentious in our…

Reviews literature on exclusion and overrepresentation in special education, finding lack of dialogue between these discourse communities. Analyzes concepts of "culture" and "space." Concludes that practitioners and researchers should acknowledge assumptions about difference, culture, and space to improve the experience of marginalized students…

The majority of youth in corrections have had negative school experiences and below average academic achievement. Longitudinal research indicates that both academic failure and a negative life-long trajectory are a probability for many youth confined to correctional facilities. Given the high number of youth from ethnic and cultural minority…

In this article, we present a conceptual framework for addressing the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education. The cornerstone of our approach to addressing disproportionate representation is through the creation of culturally responsive educational systems. Our goal is to assist…