The purpose of this study was to determine if minority students were receiving equal educational opportunities in remedial programs as now guaranteed by law. The study focused on the enrollment patterns of Black and Hispanic students in special education, transitional bilingual education, and Chapter I programs at forty-six elementary and eighteen secondary schools in three urban Massachusetts communities which had been cited by the State Department of Education for prima facie denial of equal educational opportunities to minority students. Disproportionate enrollment patterns of Black and Hispanic students suggested discriminatory placement practices were occurring in these communities. However, after years of state investigations, discrimination was not uncovered nor could the disproportionate enrollment be explained. The present study inquired into the possibility that the remedial education services provided in a school system could result in disproportionate placement of minority students in some remedial programs without a practice of unequal opportunity. In other words, disproportionate placement in one program could not be equated with discrimination if similar educational opportunities were provided in another appropriate program. Five research objectives guided this study by determining the relationships among White, Black, and Hispanic student enrollment patterns in special education, transitional bilingual education, and Chapter I programs at selected elementary and secondary schools. Specific findings suggest that: (1) Speech and language needs of minority youth are not appropriately met in remedial education; (2) Chapter I programs are primarily utilized by minority students but the language of instruction does not always correlate with the needs of the population; (3) Transitional bilingual education in Chapter I programs appear to substitute for some special education programs; (4) Enrollment patterns of remedial programs need to be studied collectively rather than individually to determine if and how equal educational opportunities are provided to minority students. The research culminates in a ten-step model for investigating equal educational opportunities for minority youth in remedial education. This model can be used by school districts to analyze and monitor placement patterns to ensure that equal educational opportunities are being provided to minority students.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-5178 |
| Date | 01 January 1986 |
| Creators | CUPHONE, ELAINE BARAKO |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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