Ceci

Ceci

“In addition to prohibiting racial segregation in public education, the Brown decision was especially important in securing appropriate educational services and opportunities for students with disabilities.” (Blanchett, 2009, p. 372)

Blanchett

Resegregation

A Historical Analysis of Brown’s Relationship to and Effect on Special Education

What Does It Mean to “Go for Broke” for all Children in Urban Schools?

“The result is that children from advantaged families can be expected to utilize such interventions more frequently and, as a result, advantaged families benefit more from them, thereby widening any preexisting gaps” (154).

Who Are the Real Beneficiaries of Failed Urban Schools and Resegregation?

From Bown to the Legal Resegregation of African American Students Through Special Education Placement

“Specifically, disadvantaged students use computers for isolated skill development and remediation, whereas students of higher SES use computers for more independent and creative projects” (155).

“AP offerings were never intended to narrow the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students” (155).

“...the enhancement of higher performing students could have a positive impact on everyone, as national economic growth stemming from their success could trickle down and provide much-needed economic resources for their lower performing counterparts. Thus, making interventions available to all students may be expected to elevate more of a nation’s top students into the level considered critical for that nation’s future economic success—despite the possibility that any gaps existing between that nation’s haves and have-nots may be widened as a result of universalizing the intervention” (157).

"Because of the self-selection process involved in deciding to take AP courses, this intervention was primarily utilized by the highest per- forming groups of achievers” (155).

““Going for broke” means doing whatever it takes to shine the brightest lights on educational inequities experienced by poor children, African American and other children of color, children identified with disabilities, and children affected by the intersection of all of these issues.” (Blanchett, 2009, p. 385)

The Reality of Special Education in Practice for African American Students

The Original Intent of Special Education in Theory and Practice

increasing the achievement gap

“A lot of the blame for the current state of urban education has been placed on failed urban school districts, and although I believe that some of it is justified, I caution us to remember that urban school districts and systems do not operate in a vacuum and are in fact often a microcosm of the larger American society.” (Blanchett, 2009, p. 382)

AP and CCP offered at lower and higher SES schools

University/school partnerships with urban schools are seen as a business that "pimps" out the urban school.

When students with disabilities were served, they were often educated in “ghetto like” isolated and “run-down” classrooms within buildings that housed students without disabilities or in separate facilities altogether. Such terms as ghetto-like and run-down have often been used to describe the physical environments of some of the segregated schools," (Blanchett, 373)

“Moreover, research suggests that the benefits of inclusion are significant for all students. Students with disabilities who are included in general education classrooms have higher levels of social skills, are more accepted by their nondisabled peers, and have greater exposure to the general education curriculum” (Blanchett, 2009, pp. 376).

“In an ideal world, most people would wish for interventions of these kinds to be universally available to all who could benefit from them” (159).

“They called attention to the fact that African American children were labeled as mildly mentally retarded and their White peers not labeled at all, even when White children evidenced more visibly obvious disabilities than the African American students.” (Blanchett, 2009, p. 380)

“…few urban educators have acknowledged the experiences of students of color labeled as having disabilities as they have addressed some of the most significant issues and challenges facing students in urban settings, a disproportionate percentage of whom are poor, African American, and Hispanic” (371).

Brown v. Board challenged the constitutionality of "separate but equal"

Was legal through special education placement

"high-stakes testing, inadequately prepared teachers, culturally unresponsive curriculum, and No Child Left Behind"

More African American students were labeled as needing special education in order to keep them segregated

IDEA is the most important education legislation for students with disabilities

African American Students are more likely to be segregated and not be placed in general education