This document reports on the purpose, implementation, and outcomes of a policy forum on strategies used to address the disproportionate number of students from minority ethnic/racial groups receiving special education. Participants included representatives of state education agencies, local education agencies, the university/research community,…

Despite the overall economic gains in the 1990s, many young black men continue to have the poorest life chances of anyone in our society. Joblessness and low earnings among these less-educated young adults are contributing to reductions in marriage, increases in nonmarital childbearing, and a host of other social problems. In "Black Males…

While significant progress has occurred over the past several years regarding the expansion of the quantity and quality of after-school opportunities, the ambitious idea of "after-school for all" remains a distant goal. In this commentary, we push beyond some of the numbers to take a close look at questions related to access and equity,…

This guidebook has been written to provide direction, guidance and resources for classroom teachers, gifted facilitators, related services staff and administrators so that educators might better serve the gifts of all students. This user-friendly manual is a complement to "Policy 2419: Regulations for the Education of Exceptional…

Substantial growth continues in both the number and percentage of students of color obtaining master's, doctoral and first professional degrees, but there is still notable under-representation among African-Americans, Hispanics and American Indians at the doctoral and first professional ranks. The overall numbers also mask important…

There is growing concern in the United States about the education of the students regarded as least likely to succeed in school. Indeed, a major thrust of U.S. President Bush's No Child Left Behind legislation is designed to meet the educational needs of those students who traditionally have struggled the most in school. Variously labeled as…

This document was developed as a result of 1993 and 1994 policy forums on strategies to address disproportionate representation of minority students in special education. Part 1 is a synthesis of major themes and recommendations resulting from the first forum. Part 2 is a prioritization of 35 recommendations arising from that forum. The following…

The relationship between achievement and cultural, ethnic/racial, and linguistic diversity cannot be ignored given that students who struggle to learn are often the ones that are referred to special education even though the failure may not be due to a disability on the part of the student (Presidential Commission on Special Education, 2002). In…

Fifty years after "Brown v Board of Education" inequalities in public education are evident in the disproportionate numbers of Black and Latino students who are held back, often do not graduate from high school, or are removed from school by unforgiving zero tolerance discipline policies. The National Center for Educational Statistics…

With so many unanswered questions and controversies regarding intelligence, testing in general, and testing diverse students in particular, what can educators in gifted education do to ensure that these students have access to and are represented in gifted education programs and services? In this monograph, the author examines test bias by first…

On the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math, 17 percent of high school seniors scored at the "proficient" level --just under half the percentage scoring at that level on the NAEP reading test. Twenty-two percent of college freshmen are identified as needing remedial math, according to the National Center for…

Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic population in the United States. This chapter presents demographic projections for higher education and discusses the role of the transfer function in community colleges. Two notable transfer programs are highlighted. (Contains 1 table.)

As is the case in most K-12 schools, male students, in comparison to their female counterparts, disproportionately violate policies and are sanctioned more often for violence and disruptive behaviors on college and university campuses across the country. A theoretical model to explain this phenomenon is proposed in this article. Specifically, a…

Now that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004) has been reauthorized, states have the option of discontinuing the use of IQ-achievement discrepancy formulas and using Response to Intervention (RTI) criteria as part of the special education identification process. This change has dramatic implications for…

This book discusses the disproportionate representation of students from minority backgrounds in special education and gifted classes, and presents strategies that practitioners can use to better address the educational needs of all students. Chapter 1, "Disproportionate Representation: A Contentious and Unresolved Predicament" (Alfredo J. Artiles…