Four quantitative meta-analyses examined whether teachers' expectations, referrals, positive and neutral speech, and negative speech differed toward ethnic minority students (i.e., African American, Asian American, and Latino/a) as compared with European American students. Teachers were found to hold the highest expectations for Asian American students (d = -.17). In addition, teachers held more positive expectations for European American students than for Latino/a (d = .46) or African American (d = .25) students. Teachers made more positive referrals and fewer negative referrals for European American students than for Latino/a and African American students (d = .31). Although teachers directed more positive and neutral speech (e.g., questions and encouragement) toward European American students than toward Latino/a and African American students (d = .21), they directed an equal amount of negative speech (e.g., criticism) to all students (d = .02). In general, teachers' favoring of European American students compared with African American and Latino/a students was associated with small but statistically significant effects. The meta-analyses suggest that teachers' expectations and speech vary with students' ethnic backgrounds.

Are teachers' expectations different for racial minority than for European American students? A meta-analysis.

Among the most-longstanding and intransigent issues in the field, the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education programs has its roots in a long history of educational segregation and discrimination. Although national estimates of disproportionality have been consistent over time, state and local estimates may show varying patterns of disproportionality. A number of factors may contribute to disproportionality, including test bias, poverty, special education processes, inequity in general education, issues of behavior management, and cultural mismatch/cultural reproduction. This article provides a report on the history, measurement, status, and factors contributing to disproportionate representation in special education, and offers recommendations based on an understanding of racial and ethnic disparities in special education as a multiply determined phenomenon.

Achieving Equity in Special Education: History, Status, and Current Challenges:

This study investigated teachers' sense of efficacy and biases in their decisions to refer students to special education. Teachers (N = 240) read a case study about a student with academic difficulties and judged the appropriateness of the student's regular class placement and whether they would refer the student. Teachers were randomly assigned to one of six conditions, in which student socioeconomic status (SES) and etiology of the learning problem were varied. Findings revealed that teachers who perceive themselves as ineffectual consider regular education inappropriate for underachieving students from low-SES families; teachers who believe that they are effective do not differentiate students by SES. Further, teachers referred students whose learning problems had an unspecified etiology more than those whose problems were medically or environmentally based. Thus, teachers' referral decisions appear to be biased by variables unrelated to the specific academic difficulties of the student.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/27541871.pdf

Teacher Efficacy and Bias in Special Education Referrals

http://msan.wceruw.org/documents/resources_for_educators/Relationships/Behav%20At%20Risk%20and%20St%20Teach%20Relation.pdf

Behaviorally at-risk African American students:The importance of student–teacher relationships for student outcomes

We investigated whether minority children attending U.S. elementary and middle schools are disproportionately represented in special education. We did so using hazard modeling of multiyear longitudinal data and extensive covariate adjustment for potential child-, family-, and state-level confounds. Minority children were consistently less likely than otherwise similar White, English-speaking children to be identified as disabled and so to receive special education services. From kindergarten entry to the end of middle school, racial- and ethnic-minority children were less likely to be identified as having (a) learning disabilities, (b) speech or language impairments, (c) intellectual disabilities, (d) health impairments, or (e) emotional disturbances. Language-minority children were less likely to be identified as having (a) learning disabilities or (b) speech or language impairments.

Vera Bodlakova

Papers

Teacher-Student Ethnicity and Recommendations for Special Education Referrals.