Minorities are Disproportionately Underrepresented in Special Education: Longitudinal Evidence Across Five Disability Conditions.

We investigated whether and to what extent minority children attending elementary and middle schools in the U.S. are over- or under-identified as disabled and so disproportionately represented in special education. To address existing limitations in the field's knowledge base, we (a) analyzed multi-year longitudinal data, (b) used hazard modeling to estimate over-time dynamics of disability identification across five specific conditions, and (c) extensively corrected for child-, family-, and school-level potential confounding variables (e.g., child-level academic achievement and behavior, family-level socioeconomic status, school-level state location). Despite long-standing and on-going federal legislative and policy efforts to reduce minority over-representation in special education, our analyses indicated that this has not been occurring in the U.S. Instead, minority children are less likely than otherwise similar White, English-speaking children to be identified as disabled and so receive special education services. From kindergarten entry to at least the end of middle school, racial and ethnic minority children are less likely than otherwise similar White children to be identified as having (a) learning disabilities, (b) speech or language impairments, (c) intellectual disabilities, (d) health impairments, or (d) emotional disturbances. Language minority children are less likely to be identified as having (a) specific learning disabilities or (b) speech or language impairments.

Are Minority Children Disproportionately Represented in Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education?

We investigated whether and to what extent children who are racial/ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented in early intervention and/or early childhood special education (EC/ECSE). We did so by analyzing a large sample of 48-month-olds (N=7,950) participating in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), a nationally representative dataset of children born in the U.S. in 2001. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicate that boys (OR=1.66), children born at very low birthweight (OR=3.98) or with congenital anomalies (OR=2.17), and children engaging in externalizing problem behaviors (OR=1.10) are more likely to be represented in EI/ECSE. Children from low SES households (OR=.48), those displaying greater numeracy or receptive language knowledge (ORs=.96 and .76, respectively), and children being raised in households where a language other than English is primarily spoken (OR=.39) are less likely to be represented in EI/ECSE. Statistical control for these and an extensive set of additional factors related to cognitive and behavioral functioning indicated that 48-month-old children who are Black (OR=.24) or Asian (OR=.32) are disproportionately under-represented in EI/ECSE in the U.S.

Legal Status and Wage Disparities for Mexican Immigrants.

This paper employs a unique method of imputing the legal status of Mexican immigrants in the 1996-1999 and 2001-2003 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation to provide new evidence of the role of legal authorization in the U.S. on workers' wages. Using growth curve techniques, we estimate wage trajectories for four groups: documented Mexican immigrants, undocumented Mexican immigrants, U.S-born Mexican Americans, and native non-Latino whites. Our estimates reveal a 17 percent wage disparity between documented and undocumented Mexican immigrant men, and a 9 percent documented-undocumented wage disparity for Mexican immigrant women. We also find that in comparison to authorized Mexicans, undocumented Mexican immigrants have lower returns to human capital and slower wage growth.