You are wanting to be the next Commissioner of Education in Texas.

You are being interviewed by

the State Board of Education for this position. One of the Board members asks you how you would
eliminate the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education in our state.
How would you respond? Please justify each of your ideas and relate at least two of your three
ideas/comments to your readings or the overview video for this learning module.

In addressing to the State Board of Education members question concerning how I would
endeavor to eliminate the disproportionate representation of minority students in special
education in Texas, I would include the following in my response:
I would open by asserting that this issue is far larger, and more complex and pervasive,
than any one person can successfully addressthat reaching a proportionate representation of all
special education students must be achieved through the combined, committed efforts of an
appointed Action Team tasked with attaining this goal. I would propose that members of this
team be selected from a nationwide slate of scholars and special education professionals, wellinformed and well-versed in this area. I would hope to include amongst that number Russell J.
Skiba, Ph.D. (Professor in Counseling and Educational Psychology at Indiana University) and
Marilyn Friend, Ph.D. (Professor of Special Education, The University of North Carolina at
Greensboro), both recognized experts in this field.
To support my recommendation, I would cite several pertinent observations each has
made in recent years regarding disproportionality, noting the problem is still not fully
understood. As Skiba has published, [there is not] a clear or comprehensive picture emerged
concerning the causes of disproportionality (Skiba, Achieving equity, 265); Friend corroborates
this when observing, No easy answers can be found to the question of what causes the
disproportionate representation of students of color in special and gifted programs (Friend, 81).
Both hypothesize probable causes, chief among them poverty and systemic bias1 (Friend, 81) and
Friend highlights Skibas extensive study in her own publications.
Skiba has examined possible causes and conditions that create or maintain
disproportionality, how they are measured, and the interventions proposed to date. He writes,
Any comprehensive strategy for addressing disproportionality must attend to three aspects of
the issue: (a) examination of current data, (b) comprehensive hypothesis formulation and
interpretation, and (c) culturally responsive intervention and evaluation, further concluding that
if disproportionality in education is multiply determined, no single intervention strategy can
be universally relied on to reduce racial disparity. Rather, complex causality clearly suggests the
need for comprehensive and multifaceted assessment and intervention plans. (Skiba, Achieving
equity, 279).
Adding a further layer of complexity in how we as a Board address the issue, Skiba has
concluded that determinants of disproportionality are locale-specific [which] suggests that
1 favoritism toward a particular group that occurs at multiple levels within a society or institution.

remediation plans must be driven by local needs assessment capable of identifying unique local
patterns. He regards this as critical, as do I. In whatever action plan the Action Team/Task Force
constructs, Skibas summary of the policy recommendations of the Council for Children with
Behavioral Disorders (CCBD) merits their review and analysis. He feels there is scant evidence
regarding the effect of any specific interventions on measured disproportionality, [yet]
recommendations have been offered based on research related to best practices in instruction,
educational leadership, and academic and behavioral interventions (Skiba, Achieving equality,
280). I value and would hope the Action Team and Board would consider the published
immediate, short-term and long-term CCBD recommendations which include taking steps to:
Shift the monitoring of SEA2 and LEA3 practices from a narrow focus on complianceto
a broadened focus on the multiplicity of factors;
2. Prevent states from defining disproportionality in ways that minimize or mask the
identification of true disparities at the LEA level;
3. Interpret inappropriate identification broadly, to include all educational practices that
might contribute to disproportionate representation;
4. Ensure full reporting of the extend of disproportionality;
5. Ensure that monitoring efforts are consistent with Congressional intent in framing the
disproportionality provisions of IDEA;
6. Acknowledge the long-term nature of the problem;
7. Increase focus on issues of culture, intervention and prevention;
8. Consider whether disproportionate representation and significant disproportionality are or
should be different terms and processes;
9. Reconsider the necessity of the qualifier inappropriate identification;
10. Address structural needs through research and training priorities. (Skiba, CCBD, 115117).
1.

Finally, I would close my response by affirming that no matter whom the Texas governor
appoints and Texas Senate confirms4 as our State Board of Educations chair5, I would reemphasize that any forward strides made by Board leadership in this area would be we not
me progress. I would underscore the important necessity of our equal-player collaboration
as a Board in conjunction with the Action Team; I would add to that a confirmation of my own
personal and professional dedication to setting the example within and outside the Board of a
2 State Education Agency
3 Local Education Agency
4 http://www.texastribune.org/tribpedia/state-board-of-education/.
5 Be it myself or another Board member; hopefully a less controversial appointment than Governor
Abbotts June 2015 tapping of home-school parent Donna Bahorich (Rep.)
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/06/26/texas-picks-home-schooler-to-leadstate-board-of-education/)

valid, valued standard of proportionality (as opposed to disproportionality), cooperation and

commitment to this vital issue.

REFERENCES
Friend, M. P. (2014). Special education: Contemporary perspectives for school professionals
(4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Skiba, R. (February 2013). Summary on federal policy on disproportionality in special education.
Behavioral Disorders, 38(2), 108-120. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
Skiba, R. J., Simmons, A. B., Ritter, S., Gibb, A. C., Rausch, M. K., Cuadrado, J., & Chung, C.
(Spring 2008). Achieving equity in special education: History, status, and current
challenges. Exceptional Children, 74(3), 264-288. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
Strauss, V. (2015, June 26). Texas governor picks home-schooler to lead state Board of
Education. Retrieved September 21, 2015, from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/06/26/texas-picks-homeschooler-to-lead-state-board-of-education/.
Tribpedia: State board of education | The Texas Tribune. (2015). Retrieved September 21, 2015,
from http://www.texastribune.org/tribpedia/state-board-of-education/.