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 members of groups that occupy a subordinate position in society, even when they improve their status, because the group itself does not have the power of the dominant group.

The term diverse (with its various permutations) has also been critiqued because of the assumption that the experiences, language, and cultural practices of White middle-class students implicitly represent the norm, and all others are regarded as different. A related term, English learners or English language learners, describes students who speak a home language other than English. This term has also been criticized because it does not recognize the value in being multilingual and focuses instead on what students cannot do. Problems arise when the entire educational system is built on the practices and mores of the dominant group and consequential actions and measures are applied to groups of students who do not fit such norms. The term diverse, therefore, reifies the assumption that privileges the dominant group. The term students of color can also be criticized along similar lines, but it is currently favored because it is perceived as having fewer negative connotations.