Achieving Equity in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Feasible Paths to Addressing Racial Disproportionality in Special Education

This article is the second in a two-part series. To read the first,click here。

In 2021, the Mt. Diablo Unified School District near Oakland, California, was found to have a significant disproportionality in identifying Black students for intellectual disabilities. At the time, the district had about 29,000 students, of whom only 23 Black students were identified with intellectual disabilities.

Wendi Aghily, the district's director of student services and special education, said district leadership acted quickly. They communicated to the community that although the significant disproportionality involved less than 1% of students, the district would conduct a comprehensive review of policies and practices to seek potential improvements districtwide.

Data showed that in the 2020-21 school year, Black students made up 3.1% of the district's total enrollment but 8.9% of all students identified with intellectual disabilities.

"It has to start with the superintendent and go all the way down to every person involved. It's not about a program, it's about a process, and it's about the process and student outcomes," Aghily said.

The district, located in Contra Costa County, took steps to find the root causes of the disproportionality and found evidence of systemic racism and cultural mismatch, a lack of genuine partnership with parents and families, and inconsistent discipline practices, among other factors.

Even as the district worked to address these inequities, the state identified the district for a second consecutive year for significant disproportionality in identifying Black students for intellectual disabilities.

Some of the remedies the district implemented using $2.4 million in mandatory set-aside funds from federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grants over two identification periods included:

• Reviewing the identification process for students with intellectual disabilities, as well as the overall approach to special education referrals.
• Refining the Student Success Team handbook, a team that monitors student progress and helps teachers develop interventions for general education students struggling academically and behaviorally.
• Hiring a full-time parent liaison dedicated to serving Black parents.
• Providing targeted support for students with attendance difficulties and those struggling with peer interactions.

As these efforts and other measures moved forward, the district emphasized to staff the importance of identifying and serving students who need special education support. "You can't stop identifying students to get out of significant disproportionality," Aghily said. "That should never become taking away what a child needs."

Although the district was not identified for significant disproportionality in the 2022-23 school year, it continues to advance initiatives to reduce disparities and measure outcomes. Aghily is proud of the district's transparency and hard work but also pointed to challenges that affected the efforts, including that schools were dealing with the pandemic at the time.

Focusing on disproportionality initiatives while responding to the urgent needs of the pandemic became overwhelming for school staff and administrators. In most cases, educators were already struggling to adapt to remote learning and health protocols, let alone taking on additional responsibilities.

Aghily said if she could redo the past two years, she would have wanted the district to better integrate the new initiatives with pandemic response actions, rather than treating significant disproportionality improvement as a separate area of focus.

Investigating inequities

As the pandemic began disrupting instruction in spring 2020, the killings of Black man George Floyd and Black woman Breonna Taylor prompted school districts to investigate racial inequities in their education systems, including in special education, said María Hernández, co-director of the Innovation for Equity and School Transformation at New York University's Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, and deputy executive director for school change and community engagement.

Those killings "pushed our school districts" to engage in work to reduce disproportionality, said Hernández, who works with New York districts to reduce racial inequities. "It's complex, but they wanted to make a commitment to do the work from the ground up."

However, while some districts rushed to investigate bias and inequities, others hesitated for fear of drawing criticism from those opposed to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Controversial legislation in multiple states restricting the teaching of race and racism is having a negative spillover effect on some districts' approaches to correcting racial inequities, administrators and advocates say.

The National Association of State Directors of Special Education board declined to speak with K-12 Dive about the challenges and best practices of measuring significant disproportionality, citing the difficulty of providing a unified message because the topic is highly politically sensitive in many of its member states.

Help from the state

California is a state that does not shy away from the discussion. The state also saw a striking increase in the number of districts identified for significant disproportionality.

In the 2019-20 school year, 11 districts were identified. A year later, according to federal data, 131 districts — about 9% of the state's 1,482 districts — were flagged for significant disproportionality.

California data shows that in the 2021-22 school year, that number dropped to 109 districts.

We have made it clear that no matter what the issue is, or how a district becomes significantly disproportionate, we are really doubling down on our efforts to assist and support these local education agencies.

— Heather Calomese, former California state director of special education

The reasons for identification vary. For example, Torrance Unified School District was identified for significant disproportionality in emotional disturbance among White students. In Los Angeles Unified School District, it involved out-of-school suspensions of fewer than 10 days for African American students, as well as emotional disturbance among African American students. In El Monte City School District, it involved specific learning disabilities among Hispanic students.

Each district "is dealing with something at the local level that is completely different from other parts of the state," said Heather Calomese, former California director of special education, who spoke with K-12 Dive before leaving the department in May to become chief policy and advocacy officer at EdVoice, a nonprofit advocating for low-income children.

"We have made it clear that no matter what the issue is, or how a district becomes significantly disproportionate, we are really doubling down on our efforts to assist and support these local education agencies," Calomese said.

To help districts dig into the root causes of significant disproportionality, the state established a technical assistance center called the State Performance Plan Technical Assistance Project (SPP-TAP). The project offers a range of services, including training and resources, as well as 10 hours of free consultation with a coordinator who provides individualized assistance to districts.

A key part of this work is encouraging districts to have candid conversations in their communities about the causes of disproportionality — something some districts are hesitant to do.

Maureen Burness, a former district special education director and state special education advisory commission member, now works with districts as an SPP-TAP coordinator. She praised the California Department of Education for proactively working with districts at risk of or identified for significant disproportionality.

She said that while each district has unique needs, one of the most common remedies for improving disproportionality is professional development in instructional and behavioral practices. Additionally, she added, one of the biggest challenges is staff turnover. When there is personnel disruption, it is hard to maintain momentum on remedies, Burness said.

Federal involvement

A recent report from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector Generalreportfound that over the past six years, the Education Department provided general guidance and technical assistance to states on implementing significant disproportionality and monitored state compliance. The Inspector General's main recommendation was for the department to assess data quality risks to reduce inaccurate or unreliable data.

To address data quality issues in significant disproportionality, the U.S. Department of Education is creating anew technical assistance centerto help states collect, report, analyze, and use data on racial disparities in special education.

The center's proposal was published in the Federal Register in March and received 20 comments with mixed reactions. Some state education agencies said the new center could be redundant given existing federal technical assistance centers focused on special education data collection.

Others expressed support but offered various suggestions, including recommending that the proposed center work with parents, and that the department add to required data collection information on threat assessments related to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, students with disabilities who have onlySection 504 accommodations, referrals to law enforcement, and more.

On July 26, the Education Department announced it was accepting applications to manage the center, which is expected to have a budget of $14.5 million over five years.

No quick fixes

California, through SPP-TAP, is trying to share best practices among districts. A key element, Calomese and others said, is the collective involvement of superintendents, school boards, school administrators, teachers, and parents.

Superintendent and school board involvement signals to others that racial disproportionality in special education is not just a special education issue but a districtwide and general education issue, Calomese said. It also helps everyone in the district stay aligned on policy and procedure changes.

We have to stop blaming students and their families because the system continues to perpetuate significant disproportionality. What is really needed is a shift in mindset, understanding why significant disproportionality is still happening.

— Alexandria Harvey, senior program associate for special education policy and practice at the National Center for Systemic Improvement led by WestEd

What does not work well is when district leaders rush to find solutions without first understanding the causes.

"People often come into this work and say, 'I just want to get out. I want to get out. I don't want to be identified for significant disproportionality,'" Calomese said. "If the end goal is to get out... then we are not doing our due diligence to ensure we are equipping and empowering districts to implement equitable and just systems."

"If you want change to be meaningful, it does take time," she said.

Alexandria Harvey, senior program associate for special education policy and practice at the National Center for Systemic Improvement led by WestEd, said embedding and implementing culturally responsive practices takes time.

"We have to stop blaming students and their families because the system continues to perpetuate significant disproportionality. So it really is a shift in mindset, understanding why significant disproportionality is still happening," Harvey said.

While addressing disparities in special education is an ongoing effort, she said she is pleased with the progress toward positive change.

"The field is continuously improving our methodologies and our ability to guide districts and states to truly address and hopefully end disproportionality," Harvey said. "I think the needle is starting to move, and I am very optimistic about the future."