Special Education and Students of Color

The placement of students of color in special education programs and services is a complex and contested issue. This entry provides an overview of assumptions and issues that permeate students of color in special education, and the equity issues that emerge for this group. Throughout the entry, terms are used purposely. The term students of color is increasingly used to describe students traditionally labeled as culturally, ethnically, racially, and/or linguistically diverse, or children and youth from so-called minority backgrounds. Objections have been raised to the use of some of these terms. For instance, some commentators object to the term minority because these students represent the numerical majority in many educational and community contexts. However, a counterargument is that the term minority is used to describe ...