If you are looking at developments in education, you might have stumbled across the Special Education Bias Rule. It’s a provision that may be new to you although the theory has been around since the IDEA act of 2004. The act changes the ways states spend their special education money and redirects thinking about special needs toward early intervention.
What is the Rule?
Starting in 2017, states must use a standardized method to decide if their schools have been disproportionally identifying minority students in special education programs, in discipline and in segregating them from mainstream classrooms. The problem is that some schools tend to more often identify minority students than white children as having special needs. These children are then segregated in a special needs classroom instead of being allowed to remain in the general education population. The special education classrooms are federally-funded.
Why is the Rule Needed?
States tend to have different standards for identifying special needs students. Schools move troubled students out of mainstream classrooms into special-ed environments. Black and minority students are more likely to be in that category than white students, indicating a bias. In general, states identify a tenth of special needs children as having mental retardation and a fifth of students as having language or speech difficulties. The other children identified, however, may be categorized under “other needs” classifications. Because there has been no standardized method of identifying which children fit into the programs, states sometimes misdiagnose children, and especially children of color.
Recommended reading: 5 Great Intervention Trainings for Special Education Teachers
What Happens if States Decide Schools are Targeting Minority Students?
States that are found to have a disproportionate number of minority students in the special education programs must spend fifteen percent of their federal special education dollars to fix the problems. One of the issues is that since the idea originated in the late 1990s, and was solidified into legislation in 2004, only four percent of schools have been singled out as having the bias. In 2011, 356 out of 13,000 districts were identified . That is why the new regulation mandates standardized methods of identification. The government wants states to focus on early-intervention programs that may prevent children from entering the special needs population at all. The provision stems from an Obama program in 2014 called “My Brother’s Keeper.” That program was intended to build educational and career opportunities for young people of color.
Are There Problems with the Legislation?
The government estimates that implementing the Bias Rule will cost states $50 million to $91 million over ten years. That is in addition to the federal special education funding of $300 million to $552 million. The federal money will be available for children in or out of mainstream classrooms.
The methods for determining the proportion of acceptable bias is complicated. States must use standardized methods to identify schools that are disproportionately targeting children of color, but they may use their discretion, instead of the federal guidelines, about what ratio of bias is acceptable. States are not overjoyed with the legislation.
The federal government believes that the number of school districts disproportionally identifying minority students for special needs programs or even for suspension because of behavior is higher than the number states have reported. Additionally, other research has surfaced maintaining that under-representation of minorities, and not over-representation, is the problem.
The Department of Education is conducting research of its own and has sought public opinion on the issue of the Special Education Bias Rule.
