We analyzed a population-based cohort (N = 10,922) to investigate the onset and stability of racial and ethnic disparities in advanced (i.e., above the 90th percentile) science and mathematics achievement during elementary school as well as the antecedent, opportunity, and propensity factors that explained these disparities. About 13% to 16% of…

We examined whether U.S. schools systemically discriminate when suspending or otherwise disciplining students with disabilities (SWD). Eighteen studies met inclusion criteria. We coded 147 available risk estimates from these 18 studies. Of four studies including individual-level controls for infraction reasons, over half of the available estimates…

Whether students of color are more or less likely to be identified as having disabilities than similarly situated students who are White in U.S. states with histories of de jure and de facto racial segregation is currently unknown. Unadjusted analyses of large samples of students attending elementary and middle schools in the U.S. South yielded…

To examine whether special education racial risk ratios reported by U.S. school districts are explained by district-level confounds, particularly, racial achievement gaps, we analyzed merged data (N = 1,952 districts for Black-White comparisons; N = 2,571 districts for Hispanic-White comparisons) from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of…

We summarize our recent findings that White children in the United States are more likely than otherwise similar racial or ethnic minority children to receive special education services, including for emotional and behavioral disorders. We show how the findings are robust. We explain why our findings conflict with prior reports in education that…

Federal legislation and policy increasingly seek to address minority overrepresentation in special education due to concerns that U.S. schools are misidentifying children as disabled based on their race or ethnicity. Yet whether and to what extent this is occurring is currently in dispute. We estimated racial disparities in disability…

This study reports 2 years of findings from a randomized controlled trial designed to replicate and demonstrate the efficacy of an existing, successful professional development program, the Pathway Project, that uses a cognitive strategies approach to text-based analytical writing. Building on an earlier randomized field trial in a large, urban,…

Background: Whether and to what extent racial/ethnic disparities in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis occur by kindergarten entry is currently unknown. We investigated risk factors associated with an ADHD diagnosis by kindergarten entry generally, and specifically whether racial/ethnic disparities in ADHD diagnosis occur by…

We investigated whether minority children attending U.S. elementary and middle schools are disproportionately represented in special education. We did so using hazard modeling of multiyear longitudinal data and extensive covariate adjustment for potential child-, family-, and state-level confounds. Minority children were consistently less likely…

We investigated whether children's reading and mathematics growth trajectories from kindergarten to fifth grade inter-related, and to what extent disability and minority status interacted to predict their achievement trajectories. We conducted secondary data analysis based on a nationally representative sample of 6,446 U.S. schoolchildren from the…

We examined three questions. First, do reading difficulties increase children's risk of behavioral difficulties? Second, do behavioral difficulties increase children's risk of reading difficulties? Third, do mathematics difficulties increase children's risk of reading or behavioral difficulties? We investigated these questions using (a) a sample…

The authors use the ECLS-B, a nationally-representative study of children born in 2001 to report the child care arrangements and quality characteristics for 2-year olds in the United States and to estimate the effects of differing levels of child care quality on two-year old children's cognitive development. Their goal is to test whether high…

Objective: Whether and to what extent racial/ethnic disparities in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis occur across early and middle childhood is currently unknown. We examined the over-time dynamics of race/ethnic disparities in diagnosis from kindergarten to eighth grade and disparities in treatment in fifth and eighth…

Two questions were investigated. First, are children with reading problems in first grade more likely to experience behavior problems in third grade? Second, are children with behavior problems in first grade more likely to experience reading problems in third grade? The authors explored both questions by using multilevel logistic regression…

Academic achievement--the credentials of schooling completed and degrees attained, as well as the skills and capabilities associated with these credentials--is an important determinant of socioeconomic success. Few if any personal characteristics are more strongly and positively related to an individual's later occupational attainment, employment,…