Does Teacher Bias Increase Referral of Blacks to Special Education for a Reading Disability?

<p>Research shows that Black students are over-represented in special education for a reading disability based on the inaccuracy of teacher referrals. Teachers' accuracy in referring Black students to special education for a reading disability is not an extensively researched area. This study aims to determine if teachers' biases and attitudes toward Black students impacted their ability to accurately make a special education referral for a reading disability for this population of students. For this study, teachers completed a questionnaire, cultural competence self-assessment checklist, four vignettes, and a post-vignette question to determine if their personal biases and attitudes impacted their willingness to refer Black students to special education for a reading disability. A cross-tab, chi-squared test, and binary logistic regression were the methods used to examine the data. All data collected in the study were from school districts across the country and teacher pages via social media groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. The researcher hypothesized that whether Black students were struggling or not within the vignettes, teachers would refer them for special education services at a higher rate.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy - School Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Services

Year dc:date.available

2022

Author dc:creator

• Wise Perry, Blade

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Nina Ellis-Hervey
• Dr. Elaine Turne
• Dr. Luis Aguerrevere

• Black
• White
• Overrepresentation
• Over referral
• Teacher Bias
• Reading Disability
• Special Education
• Accessibility
• Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
• Elementary Education and Teaching

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/519

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1519