Migrant children are considered one of the most at-risk populations in the United States. They confront multiple obstacles of poverty, poor health, mobility, and limited English proficiency (LEP). These factors contribute to the difficulties that migrant children may encounter in the educational system. Once a migrant student is identified as having a disability, he/she faces problems not only because of his/her migratory lifestyle but also because of his/her disability. Little research has been conducted regarding migrant students with disabilities. Many questions remain unanswered. Some of the literature alludes to an underrepresentation of migrant students in special education, but no empirical research exists. The purpose of the study is two-fold. The first is to examine the extent of the migrant student population that is currently identified as having disabilities in the school districts across the state of Texas. The second purpose of the study is to examine the common characteristics of school districts that have a disproportionate representation of migrant students served by special education. Data for the 2000-2001 school year was obtained from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) from their Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) and the Program Analysis System (PAS). There were 223 districts included in the sample. There were 71,656 migrant students in the sample with 9,078 migrant students receiving special education services. Migrant students across the state of Texas were primarily Hispanic and economically disadvantaged. Forty five percent of all migrants were also LEP. Although 12% of the migrant population across the state received special education services during the 2000-2001 school year, further analysis demonstrated that there was a higher percentage of migrant students that received services under the Learning Disability category when compared to all students, excluding migrants. There were also a number of districts that had an overrepresentation of migrant students that received special education services, while others had an underrepresentation of migrant LEP students that received special education services. Overall, this study indicates that there is a disproportionate representation of migrant students that received special education services across the school districts of Texas.

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Educators face multiple forms of misbehavior in the classroom on a regular basis. Quantitative data in the academic literature indicates that some subgroups, particularly minority students, lower income students and boys, face higher rates of disciplinary actions than their peers. Whether this indicates that those students misbehave more often, whether their actions are perceived differently by educators, or whether they are punished more harshly for their misbehavior are issues that are not well-settled by academic research. This research project addresses this gap in the literature, by addressing how the overrepresentation of subgroups may occur and by addressing the decision-making process in general, regardless of a student’s social characteristics. This qualitative research project provides an in-depth account of daily life at a rural high school in Kentucky, illustrating instances of misbehavior within the classroom and the various methods that teachers employed to control the misbehaving students. This project gives voice to the teachers, giving consideration to the factors that impacted the decisions they made with respect to consequences for misbehavior. This research project triangulates observations and interviews with disciplinary data from the school to provide a detailed picture of misbehavior and the resulting consequences. The teachers at this school typically gave students ample opportunity to rectify misbehavior before moving to more serious sanctions and considered consequences for most misbehavior on an individual basis. Nonetheless, minority students were overrepresented among students referred to administrators for misbehavior, indicating the possibility of a cultural mismatch between white educators and students of color. At the administrative level, consequences were fair and consistent, and no evidence of discrimination against any subgroup was demonstrated.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was first passed in 1975 and requires states to have policies in place to prevent misidentification and overrepresentation, and to monitor disproportionate representation by race/ethnicity and disability category. The fundamental premise of this legislation is to ensure that students with disabilities are afforded a free and appropriate education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Even with the passage of IDEA, the disproportionate representation of minority students continues to be a national issue. The disproportionate placement of minority students in Exceptional Student Education (ESE) began to receive attention prior to IDEA and has been well documented by researchers ever since. Hispanic disproportionality has received less attention in professional literature and has shown to vary depending upon the level of data being analyzed. Early studies analyzing national level data indicate that Hispanic students tend to be underrepresented in many ESE categories, while studies disaggregating state and district level data found that Hispanic students are overrepresented in the high incidence categories. The goals of this study were to determine (a) if a disproportionate representation of Hispanic students existed in the three high incidence categories of Emotional/Behavioral Disabilities (EBD), Specific Learning Disabled (SLD), and Intellectual Disabilities (ID) and (b) if Hispanic students already identified for Exceptional Student Education services were disproportionately represented, compared to all other students, in more restrictive educational placements in each of the 67 counties in the state of Florida. Three separate measures were iii employed to make this determination: the composition index (CI), the risk index (RI), and the risk ratio (RR). An analysis of the data revealed that in several of the school districts Hispanic students were both overrepresented and underrepresented across all high incidence categories. The data also indicated that Hispanic students already identified for ESE services were both overrepresented and underrepresented in several school districts across all educational environments. Also, differences in disproportionality were noted depending upon the measure being utilized for both research questions. Implications for practice and recommendations for further research are presented.

While many school districts in the state of Florida have achieved unitary status and are no longer under court jurisdiction, evidence that school districts continue to practice discipline policies that result in the disproportionate suspension of Black students can be found. Despite decades of desegregation, Black students continue to experience the devastating consequences of suspension and expulsion from school. The overrepresentation of Black students in the administration of school discipline is a serious concern for school districts. This study investigated if the attainment of unitary status resulted in equity in school discipline for Black students. Additionally, the study investigated the overrepresentation of Black students in the administration of school discipline as measured by out-of-school suspensions in the secondary schools of the 67 Florida public school districts in 2005-2006. The study compared the representation of Hispanic and Multiracial students to Black students in the administration of school discipline. The study also examined the effects of grade level (6, 7, 8, and 9) on Black, Hispanic, and Multiracial students in the administration of school discipline. Analysis of the data derived from the Florida Department of Education database for school year 2005-2006 led to the following findings: (1) there was overrepresentation of Black students in secondary schools in the state of Florida and that 42 school districts were not in compliance with unitary status guidelines; (2) Black students were overrepresented in school discipline when compared to Hispanic and Multiracial students; (3) the effect of grade (6, 7, 8, and 9) was not significant in the representation of Black students in school discipline; (4) 18 Florida public school districts have attained unitary status, 16 public school districts remained under court jurisdiction, and 33 public school districts were never subject to desegregation litigation; and, (5) Black students were overrepresented in the administration of school discipline in school districts that have attained unitary status.

Although there are strong opinions both for and against identifying exceptional children, it is important school divisions as well as schools ensure that student sub groups are not overrepresented in special education. The purpose of this study was to determine the representation of students in special education by category (SWD, ED, SLD, and ID) and by demographic identifier (Ethnicity, Gender, SES) for 2008-2009 and to determine changes in representation between 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 in the 132 school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The 2013-2014 data reported in the Casey (2017) study were used in this study. In addition, this study examined specific disability categories by race, gender, and socioeconomic status from all 132 Virginia public school divisions and compared data from 2008-2009 to data from 2013-2014. Data for the study were retrieved from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) related to specific categories. Findings included a comparison of the data for 2008-2009 and 2013-2014. In 2008-2009 some data were missing, which may have contributed to the limited findings. Overrepresentation was determined through the use of the standard 10 formula for overrepresentation. Findings for 2008-2009 revealed that Black students were identified as over represented in the area of Intellectual Disabilities (ID) in 2% of the school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In the school year 2008-2009, 0% of school divisions identified Hispanic students as disproportionate in the areas of ID, Students with Disabilities (SWD), Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), and Emotionally Disturbed (ED). In the 2008-2009 school year, 2% of the school divisions in Virginia identified economically disadvantaged students as disproportionate in the disability category SWD, and 20% of the school divisions identified economically disadvantaged students as disproportionate in the disability category SLD. Additionally, 17% of the school divisions identified economically disadvantaged students as disproportionate in the disability category ED, and 38% percent of the school divisions in Virginia identified economically disadvantaged students as disproportionate in the disability category ID. The 2008-2009 data, when compared to the 2013-2014 data, were less disproportionate. / EDD / The accurate identification of students for special education is necessary both for school divisions and for students. Thus, it is important that school divisions as well as schools ensure student sub groups are not overrepresented in special education. The purpose of this study was to determine representation of students in special education by category (SWD, ED, SLD, and ID) and by demographic variables (Ethnicity, Gender, SES) for 2008-2009, and to determine changes in representation between 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 in the 132 school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The study utilized 2013-2014 data reported in the Casey (2017) study. Data from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) were used for the study. Analysis of the data revealed less disproportionate representation in each of the groups examined in 2008-2009 when compared to the data reported by Casey (2017). In 2008-2009 some data were missing, which may have contributed to a lack of over representation in several areas. While Blacks were overidentifed in ID in a few divisions in 2008-2009, Economically disadvantaged students were overidentified in a larger number of school divisions in SLD, ED, and ID. However, the 2008-2009 data, when compared to the 2013-2014 data, indicated less disproportionality.

For more than three decades, research has shown that the special education referral, identification, and placement processes can be discriminatory (Artiles, Rueda, Salazar, and Higareda, 2005). Proportionately, there are more minority students of low socio-economic status than are White students in special education categories that are the high incidence special education categories. Students with high-incidence disabilities make up 80% of all students with disabilities. High-Incidence disabilities share these characteristics, (1) often hard to distinguish from students without disabilities, especially in non-school settings, (2) often display a combination of academic, and (3) behavioral and social problems (Friend and Bursuck, 2012). Special Education licensure and endorsement varies from state to state, as does the terminology used in describing the knowledge that is required and the students to whom it applies. In most states students identified for special education services for the categories of Intellectual Disability (ID), Specific Learning Disability (SLD) and students with Emotional Disturbance (ED) are identified as high- incidence disabilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of relative representation of male and female, minority, and low socioeconomic students with disabilities served in special education programs across 132 public school divisions within eight Superintendent']s regions in the 2013-14 school year, as published by the Virginia Department of Education. Data from the Virginia Department Education (VDOE) were analyzed to present an analysis of three categories of the special education populations (ID, SLD and ED), racial, (Black and Hispanic) and socio-economic status. Findings indicated that fewer than 50% of the school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia showed disproportionality, however when examined by Superintendent's regions there were some geographical areas that showed some concentrations of disproportionality. / Ed. D.

Esta dissertação teve como objetivo testar a proposição de Stepan (1999) a respeito da sobre-representação dos estados menos populosos no Congresso Nacional. Segundo o autor, a sobre-representação permite que os parlamentares dos estados menos populosos se unam para vetar reformas que são contrárias a seus interesses. Para testar a proposição de Stepan, escolhemos como objeto de estudo a reedição da Lei de Informática (Lei no 8.248, de 23 de outubro de 1991) em dois momentos: no governo Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) - Lei no 10.176/2001 - e no governo Lula - Lei no 11.077/2004. A análise compreende a tramitação das leis, desde a proposição encaminhada pelo Executivo federal até a sanção presidencial ao texto final, além de buscar compreender como o tema entrou na pauta dos governos FHC e Lula. A tramitação da Lei de Informática nesses dois momentos foi pautada por questões regionais que opuseram a bancada do Amazonas, contrária a aspectos da lei, e a bancada de São Paulo, que mais tinha interesse na renovação do benefício fiscal concedido pela lei. O resultado, de modo geral, foi desfavorável à bancada do Amazonas, que não conseguiu formar um grupo capaz de defender seus interesses. Portanto, não conseguimos confirmar a proposição de Stepan. / This essay aimed to test Stepan\'s proposition (1999) on overrepresentation of less populous Brazilian states in the Congress. According to the author, this overrepresentation allows congressmen from less populous states to gather in order to block reforms which go against their interests. So as to test Stepan\'s proposition, we have chosen as case study the republishing of the \"Law of Informatics\" (Law 8.248, October 23rd, 1991) in two moments: under Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) Presidency (Law 10.176/2001) and under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Presidency (Law 11.077/2004). The analysis comprehends the full transit of the bill, from Executive proposal through governmental sanction, and attempts to understand the way this issue came into object of attention both under FHC and Lula. The transit of the \"Law of Informatics\" within these two moments was guided by regional issues which opposed congressmen from de state of Amazonas, who were against some aspects of the law, and the ones from São Paulo, who were more interested in renovating the fiscal benefits granted by the law. The aftermath was unfavorable to Amazonas\'s congressmen, who were not able to make up a group capable of defending their interests. Thus, we did not manage to confirm Stepan\'s proposition.

Esta dissertação teve como objetivo testar a proposição de Stepan (1999) a respeito da sobre-representação dos estados menos populosos no Congresso Nacional. Segundo o autor, a sobre-representação permite que os parlamentares dos estados menos populosos se unam para vetar reformas que são contrárias a seus interesses. Para testar a proposição de Stepan, escolhemos como objeto de estudo a reedição da Lei de Informática (Lei no 8.248, de 23 de outubro de 1991) em dois momentos: no governo Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) - Lei no 10.176/2001 - e no governo Lula - Lei no 11.077/2004. A análise compreende a tramitação das leis, desde a proposição encaminhada pelo Executivo federal até a sanção presidencial ao texto final, além de buscar compreender como o tema entrou na pauta dos governos FHC e Lula. A tramitação da Lei de Informática nesses dois momentos foi pautada por questões regionais que opuseram a bancada do Amazonas, contrária a aspectos da lei, e a bancada de São Paulo, que mais tinha interesse na renovação do benefício fiscal concedido pela lei. O resultado, de modo geral, foi desfavorável à bancada do Amazonas, que não conseguiu formar um grupo capaz de defender seus interesses. Portanto, não conseguimos confirmar a proposição de Stepan. / This essay aimed to test Stepan\'s proposition (1999) on overrepresentation of less populous Brazilian states in the Congress. According to the author, this overrepresentation allows congressmen from less populous states to gather in order to block reforms which go against their interests. So as to test Stepan\'s proposition, we have chosen as case study the republishing of the \"Law of Informatics\" (Law 8.248, October 23rd, 1991) in two moments: under Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) Presidency (Law 10.176/2001) and under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Presidency (Law 11.077/2004). The analysis comprehends the full transit of the bill, from Executive proposal through governmental sanction, and attempts to understand the way this issue came into object of attention both under FHC and Lula. The transit of the \"Law of Informatics\" within these two moments was guided by regional issues which opposed congressmen from de state of Amazonas, who were against some aspects of the law, and the ones from São Paulo, who were more interested in renovating the fiscal benefits granted by the law. The aftermath was unfavorable to Amazonas\'s congressmen, who were not able to make up a group capable of defending their interests. Thus, we did not manage to confirm Stepan\'s proposition.

School safety is the utmost priority for an elementary school administrator and is high on the list of public concerns. The intent of this study was to identify the professional development that Virginia Elementary School principals receive in the area of handling student discipline. The study addressed the following research questions: (a) to what extent do current elementary school administrators receive training in the area of handling student discipline; (b) to what extent do elementary school administrators receive training in the area of handling student discipline in principal preparation coursework; (c) what are the most prevalent topics when administrators receive training in the area of handling student discipline; and (d) what future training, in the area of handling student discipline, do elementary school administrators need? This descriptive, quantitative study included a survey, created by the researcher that was used to collect data from 103 elementary school administrators. The results indicate that the administrators did not receive comprehensive training in the area of handling student discipline. In particular, training regarding suspensions and minority overrepresentation was severely lacking while the training around safety and security was the most prevalent. Forty-nine percent of the administrators indicated that their principal preparation programs did not address student discipline in a required coursework. The results of this study provide school district leaders with information on current gaps in the area of student discipline included in professional development provided to elementary school administrators in principal preparation programs and during their tenure as administrators. / Ed. D.