Ethnic representation in special education: The influence of school-related economic and demographic variables

The purpose of this study was to provide current information on the represe ntation of African American students as mildly mentally retarded (MMR) and seriously emotionally disturbed (SED) and to describe the influence of econ omic, demographic, and educational variables on the identification of minor ity students for special education. The sample consisted of the districts s elected for the Fall 1992 Elementary and Secondary School Civil Rights Comp liance Report survey. Odds ratios were constructed for MMR and SED to descr ibe the nature and extent of disproportionate representation. Regression mo dels were tested to investigate the influence of a set of school-related de mographic and fiscal variables on disproportionate representation. Results indicated that African American students were about 2.4 times more likely t o be identified as MMR and about 1.5 times more likely to be identified as SED than their non-African American peers. Economic and demographic Variabl es were significant predictors of disproportionate representation but influ enced identification of students as MMR and SED in different ways. Implicat ions for research are discussed.