Moving Towards Equity

1. Moving Towards Equity Shana Ritter Indiana Disproportionality Project Initiative on Equity and Opportunity Center for Evaluation & Education Policy at Indiana University NCCRESt Conference, February 17, 2006

2. Leaving No Child Behind… “The purpose of schooling – no matter how daunting that purpose may be – is to struggle with the tensions that will always exist around the twin goals of providing learning opportunities that are excellent and equitable for all, not some,”. (Cochran-Smith, 2001, 93)

3. Equity in education A principle that guides policy and practice holding high expectations and providing appropriate resources so that all students can achieve at a rigorous standard.

4. Diversity & Cultural Competence Valuing Diversity is a necessary step along the continuum of cultural competency and culturally responsive pedagogy, but it is not enough. Cultural Competency requires knowledge, skills and experience and the ability to transform these into practice which results in improved services and outcomes.

5. Cultural Competence A developmental process. A set of congruent behaviors, attitudes and policies that come together in a system, agency or among professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations. Having the capacity to function effectively in cultural contexts that differ from your own.

6. Cultural Competence Continuum Community Anti-Drug Coalitions Destructiveness Incapacity Blindness Pre-Competence Competence Proficiency

7. Profoundly Multicultural Questions- Sonia Nieto “Multicultural education needs to be accompanied by a deep commitment to social justice and equal access to resources…, in short it needs to be about much more than ethnic tidbits and cultural sensitivity.” “It is easier to adopt a multicultural reader than to assure all children learn to read, to have a concert of ethnic music than to give all children instruments.”

8. Profoundly Multicultural Questions Who’s taking calculus? Which classes meet in the basement? Who’s teaching the children? How much are children worth?

9. IN OTHER WORDS AS R.D. Laing stated crazy is believing that you can continue to repeat the same actions and arrive at different results.

10. Lenses of Inequity Disproportionality in Achievement Disproportionality in Discipline Disproportionality in High School Graduation Disproportionality in Special Education

11. National NAEP Percent Scoring Basic or Above: 2003

12. National Disproportionality Discipline Rates: 1972-2000 USDOE, Office of Civil Rights (2000)

13. Discipline Rates by Race

14. National Graduation Rates:2001 Manhattan Institute (2004)

15. Disproportionality in Special Education In addition to the problems the students experience in their personal lives away from school, the schools create a whole new set of problems for children they deem different. As schools become more wedded to psychological models, students are recruited into new categories of pathology. Students who do not conform to particular behavioral expectations may be labeled "disabled" in some way, that is, suffering from attention deficit disorder, emotional disability, or cognitive disabilities. Students do in fact confront real mental and emotional problems, but we need to consider the way students' racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic characteristics are deployed to make their assignments to these disability categories more likely. Gloria Ladson Billings

16. How Much More Likely Are African American Students to Be in Special Ed.? • Relative Risk for Indiana’s AA students: • Mild Mental Disability3.29 x more • Emotional Disturbance 2.38 x more • Moderate MD1.91 x more • Communication Disorder 35% less • Learning Disabled 6% less • Regular Class Placement35% less • Separate Class Placement.2.84 x more

17. Relative Risk in MIMD

18. Composition Index of AA students in general and special education

19. LRE • Not only are African Americans being placed in special education at disproportionate rates but, they are also being disproportionately placed in more restrictive settings. • Consequently, they are being denied access to some of their deserved educational opportunities.

20. Responses to Inequity • Blaming the Victim: Disproportionality due primarily to characteristics of minority populations (e.g. Herrnstein & Murray) • Critical Race Theory: Disproportionality as a decision to maintain the structure of white privilege (e.g. Bell, Delgado) • Cultural Reproduction:Racial/economic inequity maintained by roles and actions of individuals within institutions, perhaps unconsciously (e.g., Bowles & Gintis, Oakes) • Maybe We Shouldn’t Talk About It...

21. OR TAKE ACTION Data driven decisions Research based approaches Cultural competence

22. The Indiana Disproportionality Project • Collaboration of IDOE and The Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at I. U. • Document status of minority disproportionality in Indiana • Use that information to guide remediation

23. Project History and Timeline • Phase I (1999-2000): • Developing Measures of Disproportionality • Phase II (2000-2001): • Understanding What Contributes to Special Ed. Disproportionality • Phase III (2002-2006): • Addressing Disproportionality in Local School Districts • Develop New Measures Ownership, RER, Cultural Competence

24. Qualitative Study – The Context of Disproportionality • Interviewed across 7 corporations: • 28 teachers • 14 principals, 8 assistants (deans) • 9 school psychologists • 7 directors of special education • 7 African American, 59 Caucasian • 12 male, 54 female

25. The Effects of Poverty “Is the ethnicity the problem or is poverty the problem?” --Principal“You look at the students that we are identifying and for some reason they are disadvantaged.” --Principal

26. The Effects of Poverty on Classrooms “There are days that I walk away with like 200 pounds on my shoulders thinking ‘it keeps getting worse.’ The stories are more bizarre, more traumatic; how can we possibly meet all these needs?” --Classroom Teacher “I’m tired. It gets harder and harder and there is less and less help for us.” --Classroom Teacher

27. What the Data Say: IDP Analyses • Conducted analysis of Indiana’s disproportionality data controlling for poverty • Found that economic disadvantage does not account for racial disparities • In some cases low poverty predicts increased AA overrepresentation • Poverty seems to magnify racial disparity

29. School Factors: Resources & Classroom Management Sometimes we tend to put middle class values and expectations on another group, another culture. And when you look at the school setting the majority of teachers are Caucasian, middle class, I find a lot of my African American boys need movement. I’ve talked with teachers about that, it isn’t ADHD or any of those things, this is just a kid who has to move and you need to provide them with the opportunity to do that. – Principal

30. School Factors: High-Stakes Testing “Our expectations for youngsters have sky-rocketed, more and more aren’t attaining the standards the feds and state think should occur. A lot of stressed teachers feel tremendous pressure to get kids to a certain level and if I don’t then by gosh I better [get them tested] and find a reason why.” --Special Ed. Director “This year we were told that we had to refer anyone who didn’t pass ISTEP. So I had to refer 13 kids to [the prereferral team] and I don’t really need that…I know what their problem is.” --Classroom Teacher

31. Problems with Referral and Decision Making “I think because they know that something is not working for a child and they feel that they can’t tap into some resources. One stable resource that they have to tap into is special education. It has funding to support it, it’s a process that is in place. So it is an easy tap into subsystem.” --Special Ed. Director

32. Referral and Decision MakingTeacher Perspective “I am pretty open to referring any child that is not finding success. My goal is for every child to be successful.” --Classroom Teacher “If there’s a chance they might qualify, it’s always to their benefit to have them checked.” --Classroom Teacher

33. The Difficulty of Talking About Race ““When you say minorities, are you, what are you speaking of?...[INTERVIEWER: Ethnic and racial minorities]...Oh....OK...Alright...We have like...I guess we have about half and half. I don’t know that I’ve ever really paid attention to it .” --Classroom Teacher

34. Local Equity Action Development: The LEAD Projects • Recognize that mistakes will be made • Difficult conversations must take place • The process of change can only be clearly mapped in retrospect.

35. The LEAD process Developed as a result of the collaboration of those districts with the Indiana Disproportionality Project, enables school personnel at the local level to make use of their own data and resources to better understand and address issues of disproportionality and equity. The model is based upon four assumptions: All plans must be local, addressing local realities and local needs. In order to address the complexity of disproportionality issues for culturally and linguistically diverse students in a way that is meaningful and appropriate to the culture of that district, plans must originate from within the district. While IDP staff provide guidance and technical assistance, decisions on plan design and implementation are made by the district planning team.

36. LEAD • Planning and evaluation must be based upon local data.Local data on equity provide a framework that can motivate and guide local remediation efforts, and the success of any systems change efforts can be judged only by changes in those data. • LEAD must be a collaborative effort • Conversations about race, disproportionality, and equity are awkward and sometimes difficult, but necessary. Part of the role of the team is to ensure that team meetings are a safe place for having honest and “courageous” conversations

38. Ongoing Questions • What do we know about disproportionality in our district? • What changes in school-based processes are perceived to have the greatest impact on disproportionality in our schools?

39. Ongoing questions • How do we involve others in the process of creating ownership for and bringing about change? • How will we know if our efforts are working? • What impact will this have on other issues of equity?

40. What do you know about your district?

41. The LEAD Process Form a preliminary planning team key leaders in the district general & special education building level & central office • Ask what are our greatest areas of concern with respect to equity in our district? • What practices might contribute to disproportionality?

42. Examine the data ASK: • What do we know? • What else do we need to know to understand and apply the data? • How will we find out more? • How do we share what we know?

43. Identify the action of greatest potential impact ASK: What actions, programs or interventions do we believe would be the most promising in addressing the potential causes of disproportionality? What have others done to address these issues? What impact do we expect this action to have, how will we measure it?

44. Expand the planning team ASK: • Is the team representative of your district? • How can we find ways to continually incorporate other voices into the planning? (focus groups, surveys, site based meetings)

45. Develop a plan • That will meet the needs and culture of the schools • Reflect best practices • Identify data that will assess the impact of the project • BEGIN SMALL ASK: What support do we need (Professional Dev., time, materials?) How will incorporate a focus on cultural competence? How will we know the effect on disproportionality? How will we encourage ownership and involvement?

46. Develop an Action Plan for Implementation include as many voices as possible And necessary professional development • cultural responsiveness • leadership • family involvement • differentiated instruction • using data effectively

47. Implement, Assess, Adapt • Pilot in a few locations • Gather data • Gather feedback • Adapt • Re- Assess • Use evaluative measures • Continue conversations ASK: How will we incorporate feedback? How will we share information about our LEAD project with others in the district? How do we ensure that the project continues to address the org9nal question of ethnic disproportionality?

48. What does it look like in the districts? • Ten districts currently participating in Local Equity Action Development Projects • Reform the GEI Process • Peer Coaching • K-2 Instructional Project • Family Involvement • Cultural Competence • Develop Standardized Measure to Track Disproportionality • Referral Assessment  Placement

49. The Referral to Eligibility Ratio • Tracks 3 steps of the referral to eligibility process. • Referral, assessment, eligibility • Data Entered Into Excel Worksheet

50. Three Uses of the RER • Measure the effectiveness of the GEI (or other intervention) process • Where in the process is disproportionality most likely to occur? • Track short term (e.g. yearly) changes in disproportionality