This study addressed the problem of the disproportionality of African Americans
in special education by conducting critical white research. A review of literature
revealed that research using this methodology had not been conducted with this
problem in mind and that critical white theory might be a wise choice in order to
understand this issue more fully. This study sought to fill that gap by providing
information on the perspectives of white general education teachers regarding the
referral and potential placement of African American students in special education.
White teachers were selected in order to explore this phenomenon from a critical
white perspective. Since most teachers are white, this population is critical in the
development of an understanding of the problem of disproportionality. The purpose
of this study was to identify the perceptions of white general education teachers
regarding the:
1. ability, behavior, and school readiness of African American students; 2. instruction, referral, and potential placement of African American
students in special education;
3. gaps that exist in the preparation of general education teachers regarding
the instruction of African American students.
The constant comparative (Glaser & Strauss, 1965) technique resulted in the
identification of six themes. These themes supported the current research and
confirmed that a lack of cultural responsiveness, a deficit view, and a
misunderstanding of the special education referral process and potential services
contributes to the gross disproportionality of African Americans in special education.
The added perspective of my being a special education administrative practitioner
and parent added a depth of understanding to this crisis that has not been previously
explored in-depth literature. Also, a useful model called the pipeline to special
education was developed to understand what occurs between general education and
special education. Finally, a critical white perspective revealed that dominant white
values in the classroom may perpetuate marginalization in the form of privilege on
the part of the teacher to be permitted to abdicate responsibility for struggling African
American students by referring them to special education.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2009-08-900 |
| Date | 16 January 2010 |
| Creators | Alexander, Dustyn R. |
| Contributors | Webb-Johnson, Gwendolyn |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
Page generated in 0.0707 seconds