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System Change to Reduce Disproportionality in Special Education: Tools

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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Disability

Abstract

Disproportionality in special education is a long-standing issue within the US education system that numerous policy mandates over the last several decades have failed to adequately address. Culturally and linguistically diverse learners have remained overrepresented across various categories of disability in special education despite several decades of legislation aimed at reducing disproportionality by race/ethnicity. The research on culturally responsive instruction (CRI) shows that this pedagogical approach holds promise to alleviate issues of educational inequity, including disproportionality in special education. Despite this potential, there are continued challenges with the operationalization and implementation of CRI, as well as a lack of system-wide support for CRI pedagogical development for in-service teachers. The authors pose that addressing disproportionality in special education requires moving away from relying on policy mandates and instead focusing on supporting in-service teachers with CRI implementation. In this chapter, we briefly summarize the research related to challenges and successes of CRI implementation by in-service teachers. As utilizing tools for system-wide support for CRI has potential to effectively begin to alleviate continued issues of disproportionality in special education, we discuss how instructional supports such as the Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale and Culturally Responsive Instruction Observation Protocol can support in-service teachers and educational leaders with continued development and implementation of culturally responsive instruction across classrooms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Kayla Larkin, Wendy Cavendish & Christina Rodriguez

Authors
  1. Kayla Larkin
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  2. Wendy Cavendish
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  3. Christina Rodriguez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wendy Cavendish .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. c/o Dr. Matthew Bennett, Klemzig, SA, Australia

    Gabriel Bennett

  2. Positive Partnerships, Seaford, SA, Australia

    Emma Goodall

Section Editor information

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    Gabriel Bennett

  2. No affiliation provided

    Emma Goodall

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    Melina Malli

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    Paul Manuel Aviles Baker

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    Stephen Meyers

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    Tanya Marie Breen

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    Chataika Tsitsi

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Larkin, K., Cavendish, W., Rodriguez, C. (2024). System Change to Reduce Disproportionality in Special Education: Tools. In: Bennett, G., Goodall, E. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Disability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40858-8_40-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40858-8_40-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-40858-8

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