Why Are There So Many Black Males in Special Education? Research Proposal

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mixed research solution to help explain just why there are so many black males in special education. The researcher supported the research questions by utilizing article, journals, observational researches, and statistical data to greatly assisted in demonstrating the final resulst of the study. The articles and journals can give a reason of the quantitative variables - for example learning styles, referral process; I.Q. testing, cultural diversity, insufficient early intervention plan, and poverty are influential in the classification of young black males as special education candidates. Participants who will remain active in the research will undoubtedly be students who range from grades K-12. Statistical data is going to be used to exhibit how African-American males signify nearly all students in the special education structure understanding the fact that they're half the normal commission of the student populace. The information will exhibit how African-American males are plagued with racial inequality and racially culturally basis test. The paper focused on the results of different studies and compared findings from these studies to compare the amount of blacks in addition to minorities in special education as opposed to the white students in the United States.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Cultural standards and expectations are forever entrenched within the American social, political as well as economic structures and have thus led to the African-American male being labeled and treated as one of the "endangered" races in the country (Piert, 2006). It is important to note here that this is in no way related to the "lynching debates" of the initial 20th century years where the black youth received plenty of negative attention and legal concern. Despite the fact that the black community has numerous positive role models, such as Michael Jordan, Mohammed Ali, Colin Powell, and the greatest role model of all -- President Barack Obama -- there are still many African-American males, especially those in urban centers, who are consistently classified and stereotyped within the five established Ds: dumb, deprived, dangerous, deviant, and disturbed. Even though these associations are rarely documented or openly proclaimed, they are usually the foundations behind the formation of the social policy and practice within the urban and rural centers especially when it comes to education. Whether it's collapse in the employment industry or failure in academic endeavors, African-American males are indirectly trained to see themselves as significantly less than, instead of up to par with, their peers (Sherman, 2007).

Purpose of the research

The purpose of this study thus is to provide the backdrop and cause behind the reason why the blacks are so predominantly enrolled in the special education sector as opposed to the normal educational standards.

Research questions/Hypothesis

Q. What are the social factors that impact the high enrollment of black males in special education sectors?

Q. What are the educational standards that the black males find difficult to meet?

Q. How is the special education structure holding them back?

Q. What are the factors from the following that cause the most difficulty for the black males?

- Attendance

- Admission criteria

- Fee structures / scholarships

Q. What makes the minorities eligible for the special education structure?

Q. How can the educational standards be improved to have a more inclusive structure?

Limitation of the proposed research

Some of the basic limitations of this study include the following aspects:

It is conducted within the United States, hence all laws and educational standards are those observed within America and cannot be expanded on the global front

The study is focused primarily on black males and does not include factors for the black females in the community

The viewpoint assumed is that the black males form a majority of the student population in the special education structure

The research questions formulated have a biased approach based on the viewpoint assumed

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Cultural Problems: African-Americans in Special Education

Numerous studies, like the study that had been conducted by the Committee to review the overall stature and academic standing of the African-American male student in the public schools at the state of New Orleans (cited in Toldson et al., 2009), make sure African-American males are excessively and unfavorably suffering from the general public educational system before they jump to suggesting an educational reform structure. Based on the results of the study, African-American students were victims to minimal promotions, highest rate of suspensions expulsions, increasing dropout rates as well as leaving or dropping out of high schools without any intention of furthering their academic pursuits (Toldson et al., 2009).

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Finding similar results and statistics, numerous institutions at the board and state level are now coordinating with many practitioners and academic policy makers to recognize added resources and ensuring the redesigning of reform strategies and techniques targeted at breaking the expected sequence of failure for African-American males in academic institutions.

It is due to this reason that numerous researchers continue to argue that very little difference and reformation can be achieved within the framework of the present educational system, a few innovative all-male institutions have already been established in an effort to bring about a necessary positive change. These academies offer an African-centered prospectus to the African-American community that not only addresses the initial requirements of urban black youth but also adheres to the needs of the adolescent African-American males and aims to serve as the middleman between the growth of their abilities and good opportunities for them to employ these scales in a constructive way (Epstein et al., 2009). Even though this tactic has proven controversial, a few Afro-centric all-male academies have already been created in the past decade, from the Milwaukee school district and expanding to numerous districts all through the country. Nevertheless, the fact remains that there is no substantial record of the short-term or long-term achievement of African-American male recorded in the academic structures, in fact the problem still exists as the stats do not show improvement and enough attention is not being give to the problem of managing the process of self-selection existent in the educational structure and of discovering the sufficient comparisons of academic results between black/minorities and white in the regular public school structures (Archibald, 2006).

Moreover, when numerically analyzing the situation, most African-American males continue steadily to have higher attendance in the regular public schools. In fact this attendance is a higher rate than the combined attendance recorded on the alternative, magnet, charter, religious, or private schools (Sanders and Jordan, 2009). Hence, it becomes imperative that to enhance the situation of public sector education for African-American males in the United States that systemic changes occur that directly and indirectly affect the standard community schools. Care has to be taken that the huge financial expenses on the capital as well as social expenditures, are tackled in relation to the success or failure of the institution. Furthermore, especially at the senior high school level, greater attention has been paid to high schools that end up serving those adolescents who're deemed probably the most prone to school failure. School failure at the senior high school level means a number of unconstructive and negative circumstances in the long-term which could include aspects like: increased drop-out levels, teenage pregnancy, misdemeanors, delinquency as well as alcohol or drug abuse, all of which have serious implications for the foundation of the standard of living for the individual in the long run (Sanders and Jordan, 2009).

Minorities in Special Education

Dr. Matthew Ladner, in his analysis, asserted that the concentration when dealing with minorities in the special education must be on the initial testing structures and the consistent academic remediation, instead of continuing the present "wait to fail" strategy. Student, teacher, and administrator responsibility and delegation must be increased so that the resources can be limited for the use of only those people who absolutely need them. He stated further that the resource placement into categories should be objectively decided as opposed to subjectively. He concluded that the viewpoint whereby the responsibility and role of the parents roles needs to be increased was absolutely acute and added that this should be done with increased choices made available to them to deal with their customized situations (Ladner, 2007).

Dr. Dan Reschly first addressed statistics predicated on IDEA data. He asserted that African-American males who were categorized as mentally disable primarily made up a total of 33% and thus they are put into special education, even though in reality the African-American students who were really mentally disable made up only 15%, i.e. less than half of those recorded, out of the overall student populace that made up the K-12 populace i.e. between the ages of six to twenty-one. At exactly the same time, he indicated that the entire percentage of black male students was classified as mentally retarded while in reality this was only true for less than two percent (1. 7%) of African-American male students who were regularly attending school (Reschly, 2007).

He further stated these differing stats primarily shock the educators and academic.....

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