Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Construction of Educational Exceptionalities

威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的美国学校数据揭示了极端的种族和民族不平等现象，有色人种学生被认定为残疾的可能性是白人同龄人的三倍，白人学生被认为有天赋的可能性是有色人种同龄人的三倍。想必，当家长和老师通过介绍学生接受特殊测试来进行干预时，他们打算支持学生的学业和社会结果。这些仁慈的微观层面的互动如何与宏观层面的种族和民族不平等联系起来？现有的研究解释了特殊教育和天赋教育中的种族和民族不成比例现象，认为1)学校做出有偏见的决定，或2)贫困等辅助因素解释种族和民族差异。这部文献的局限性在于它把例外作为一个自然范畴来对待。本研究将例外性视为一种社会建构，这种建构的意义随学生的种族和民族而变化。主要的研究问题是，学校是如何形成这种基于种族和民族的例外情况构建的？为了解决这个问题，研究采用了混合方法：1)通过实验审计设计，考察学生种族和民族对教师将学生引导至特殊教育的决策的学校水平的差异；2)通过观察和与教师和家长的访谈，确定形成例外的机制。这项研究的中心假设是，在充分的种族和民族多样性下，例外是以复制种族和民族不平等的方式构建的。更广泛的影响本项目对政策和实践具有明显的影响，因为学者、政策制定者和实践者已经证明有必要进一步了解特殊教育和天赋服务中不成比例的原因。联邦和州法律已经将记录和改善教育中的种族不平等放在了优先位置，但我们还不明白为什么会存在不成比例的现象。研究结果将阐明学校背景的作用，对学校废除种族隔离政策、教师培训和例外识别过程具有潜在的影响。

SES-1335217Adam GamoranRachel E. FishUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisoU.S. school data has revealed extreme racial and ethnic inequality in exceptionalities, with students of color up to three times more likely to be identified with disabilities as their white peers, and white students up to three times more likely to be identified as gifted as their peers of color. Presumably, parents and teachers intend to support students' academic and social outcomes when they intervene by referring students to be tested for exceptionalities. How do these benevolent micro-level interactions connect to macro-level racial and ethnic inequalities? Existing research explains racial and ethnic disproportionality in special and gifted education by arguing either 1) that schools make biased decisions or 2) that co-factors, such as poverty, explain racial and ethnic differences. This literature is limited by its treatment of exceptionality as a natural category. This research treats exceptionality as a social construction, and the meaning of this construct changes with there are with a student's race and ethnicity. The major research question is how do schools shape this construction of exceptionalities based on race and ethnicity? To address this question, the research uses a mixed-methods approach to 1) examine school-level variation in the effects of students' race and ethnicity on teachers' decisions to refer students to special education through an experimental audit design; and 2) identify the mechanisms creating the construction of exceptionality through observations and interviews with teachers and parents. The central hypothesis of the study is that under sufficient racial and ethnic diversity, exceptionalities are constructed in ways that reproduce racial and ethnic inequalities. Broader ImpactsThis project has clear implications for policy and practice, as scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners have demonstrated the need for further understanding of the causes of disproportionality in special education and gifted services. Federal and state law has prioritized the documentation and amelioration of racial ethnic inequality in education, yet we do not yet understand why the disproportionality exists. Research findings will illuminate the role of school context, with potential implications for school desegregation policy, teacher training, and exceptionality identification processes.