Running head: DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN SPECIAL 1 Dropout Rates of African American Males in Special Education Jane Doe Sam Houston State University DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN SPECIAL 2 Synopsis There is extensive research on the topic of dropout rates of students in the United States. This research shows an historical impact of how African Americans are overrepresented in special education programs and have high dropout rates. As the research will establish, there are many reasons cited for dropping out with negative consequences rippling across this growing population. Empirical studies define reasons for dropping out, estimate dropout rates with ever increasing precision, and examining the correlates of dropping out, including race, socioeconomic status (SES), and school’s performance. Abstract Educational Attainment, while highly valued, is in short supply among African Americans. Overrepresentations of African Americans are much more prevalent and are more pervasive with a well documented history of oppression and discrimination that have characterized race relations in American history (Skiba, Simmons, Ritter, Gibb, Rausch, Cuadrado, & Chung, Spring 2008). The purpose of this study is to examine dropout rates of African American males in special education settings. More specifically, this study will examine the relationship of gender, educational placement and dropout rates of students in high school. The population of this study consists of elementary and secondary students across the nation enrolled in public schools. The study will use Ad Hoc data compiled from the Composition Index (CI), the Risk Index (RI), and Relative Risk Ratio. The findings of this study revealed that there is a significant correlation between race and gender for educational placement in special education. Further, the findings revealed that there is also a significant between race and gender and high school dropout rates. DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN SPECIAL 3 Introduction Educational Attainment, while highly valued, is in short supply among African Americans. More specifically, African American males are disproportionately placed in special education and labeled mentally challenged at higher rates than their White, non-Hispanic counterparts. In contrast to special education, African American males are placed in advanced placement and identified gifted/ talented at one-sixth as often as White non-Hispanic males in the greater Houston area. Research supports that this is not a new phenomenon. Historically, special education was created from the efforts of the Civil Rights movement. Concerns of racial inequality led to litigation that brought about the first special education legislation. Because of this unique tie to the Civil Rights movement, it is very ironic that there are racial disparities in the placement of min ...

1. Running head: DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN
MALES IN SPECIAL 1
Dropout Rates of African American Males in Special Education
Jane Doe
Sam Houston State University
DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN
SPECIAL 2
Synopsis
There is extensive research on the topic of dropout rates of
students in the United States.

2. This research shows an historical impact of how African
Americans are overrepresented in
special education programs and have high dropout rates. As the
research will establish, there are
many reasons cited for dropping out with negative consequences
rippling across this growing
population. Empirical studies define reasons for dropping out,
estimate dropout rates with ever
increasing precision, and examining the correlates of dropping
out, including race,
socioeconomic status (SES), and school’s performance.
Abstract
Educational Attainment, while highly valued, is in short supply
among African
Americans. Overrepresentations of African Americans are much
more prevalent and are more
pervasive with a well documented history of oppression and
discrimination that have
characterized race relations in American history (Skiba,
Simmons, Ritter, Gibb, Rausch,
Cuadrado, & Chung, Spring 2008). The purpose of this study is
to examine dropout rates of
African American males in special education settings. More
specifically, this study will examine

3. the relationship of gender, educational placement and dropout
rates of students in high school.
The population of this study consists of elementary and
secondary students across the nation
enrolled in public schools. The study will use Ad Hoc data
compiled from the Composition
Index (CI), the Risk Index (RI), and Relative Risk Ratio. The
findings of this study revealed that
there is a significant correlation between race and gender for
educational placement in special
education. Further, the findings revealed that there is also a
significant between race and gender
and high school dropout rates.
DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN
SPECIAL 3
Introduction
Educational Attainment, while highly valued, is in short supply
among African
Americans. More specifically, African American males are
disproportionately placed in special
education and labeled mentally challenged at higher rates than
their White, non-Hispanic

4. counterparts. In contrast to special education, African American
males are placed in advanced
placement and identified gifted/ talented at one-sixth as often as
White non-Hispanic males in the
greater Houston area. Research supports that this is not a new
phenomenon. Historically, special
education was created from the efforts of the Civil Rights
movement. Concerns of racial
inequality led to litigation that brought about the first special
education legislation. Because of
this unique tie to the Civil Rights movement, it is very ironic
that there are racial disparities in
the placement of minorities in special education settings (Skiba,
et al., Spring 2008).
Overrepresentations of African Americans are much more
prevalent and are more
pervasive with a well documented history of oppression and
discrimination that have
characterized race relations in American history. Mental testing
was conducted in the early 20th
century with the premise that races other than northern
European descendents were considered to
be intellectually inferior, thus leading to the vigorous
segregation of the African American

5. population from the mainstream population. From
Reconstruction to the 1950s, the prevailing
perception was that education for African Americans was not
intended for the population to gain
equal access. Instead, the educational system was designed to
train and educate African
Americans for lower ranking positions that they were assumed
to be more suited to occupy
(Jackson & Wiedman, 2006). More than fifty years after Brown
vs. the Board of Education, the
disparity continues with some cities seeing high dropout rates of
half or more. Recognition of
the importance of the high school system in America to the
economic and social well being of
DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN
SPECIAL 4
the nation has been building for the past decade. Since the
1990s, there has been a growth in
public and private investment to improve the nation’s schools.
Many studies, conferences and
reports have increased the awareness and are pushing for a
reform of the education system.

6. Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to examine dropout rates of African
American males in
special education settings. More specifically, this study will
examine the relationship of gender,
educational placement and dropout rates of students in high
school.
Review of Literature
Throughout history, disproportionality of minority placement in
special education has
been well documented. It has been defined as “the
representation of a group in a category that
exceeds our expectations for that group, or differs substantially
from the representation of others
in that category”(Skiba et al., Spring 2008, p. 266). African
American students make up the
largest placement population in special education and this racial
group leads dropout rates in
almost every state (See Figure 1). Further, these students are
more likely to attend a Title I
school where more than seventy-five percent of students are
eligible for free or reduced lunch.
Moreover, they are less likely to graduate from high school,
which attributes to lower college

7. entrance rates than any other racial group.
The National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE,
2002) have been advocating
on the behalf of African Americans students to ensure there is
equal representation and
appropriate educational opportunities afforded to learn in
special and general education
programs. In NABSE’s report of addressing overrepresentation,
data revealed that during the
1998-99 academic year African American students were “2.9
times more likely as White
students to be labeled mentally retarded (MR), 1.9 times as
likely to be labeled emotionally
DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN
SPECIAL 5
disturbed (ED) and 1.3 times as likely to be labeled as learning
disabled (LD)” (pg 5).
Moreover, the report revealed as the students were identified by
the special education committee,
they were less likely than their White counterparts to return to
regular education placement once
they entered special education. In 2000, the Annual Report to

8. Congress on the Implementation
of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act revealed that
African American youth ages six
through twenty one years of age account for 14.8 of the general
population. The disparity is
revealed by this population representing 20.2 percent of the
special education population
(NABSE, 2002).
Donovan & Cross’s (2002) study supports these findings by
revealing African American
students are more likely to be overrepresented in the categories
of ED and mentally challenged
MR as well as special education services overall. Parish opines
that the representation is greater
in the soft disability areas, such as LD, MR or ED where a
medical diagnosis is not needed. In
these cases, school counselor and teacher perception of
student’s behavior is the guide in
referring students to special education.
Understanding the culture of the students being taught is
imperative to the well being of
the student to provide an atmosphere of successful environment
of academic achievement.

9. African American student’s culturally based behaviors. This has
been found to be true with high
percentages of White teachers working in majority minority
schools. However, as more African
American teachers and staff increase, the number of African
American students placed into
special education decreases. Darling-Hammond (2004) indicate
that students from low
socioeconomic status groups and students of color are more
likely to be taught by teachers with
less or no experience in poorly funded schools that have a hard
time hiring and retaining
minority teachers.
DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN
SPECIAL 6
Skiba, et al. (Spring 2006) tested the proportionality of African
American students placed
in more or less restrictive settings within five disability
categories. Of the five disability
categories, African American students were more likely to be
placed in more restrictive settings
that their White, non-Hispanic counterparts in four disability
categories.

10. Greene’s (2006) findings parallel NABSE in that the findings
revealed only seventy
percent of the 2003 class graduated. There continues to be a gap
between graduation rates of
African American and White, non-Hispanic students with
African American students graduating
55%. The study also revealed there is a widening gender gap of
graduation rates among African
Americans. Class of 2003 African American females had 59%
graduation rate while African
American males saw only 48% earned a diploma. This is a
difference of eleven percentage
points. In contrast, the graduation rate for White, non-Hispanic
students for the class of 2003 was
78%.
With the research provided to substantiate high percentages of
African American males
in special education, the question begs to be asked is why are so
many African American
students are grossly overrepresented in this population? NABSE
(2002) identified possible
causes as a lack of resources and well trained teachers, minimal
or no access to effective

11. instruction in general education programs, misidentification
and/or the misuse of testing
instrumentation, inequities in the referral and placement
procedures associated with special
education and failure of the educational system to be culturally
sensitive and educate children
from diverse backgrounds.
Surprisingly, the counseling community has been relatively
silent in the debate even
though there is a substantial amount of research to generate
great cause for concern. Currently,
there is no answer as to why there is an overrepresentation of
African Americans in special
DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN
SPECIAL 7
education settings; however there are possible explanations to
explain the phenomena.
Weinstein, Tomlinson-Clark & Curran (2004) opine that White
teachers may have fear of
African American male students. In contrast to the growing
minority student population,
predominately white female teachers are more likely to be
teaching minority students. To widen

12. the gap, many of these teachers come from middle class
neighborhoods and were educated in
predominately White colleges/universities. In many instances,
the institution’s teacher education
program does not adequately prepare individuals for the reality
of racial imbalance between
minority students and White, non-Hispanic teachers.
How we think about African Americans, African American
males in particular, affects
how we respond to them. Johnson (2006) explained that there
are many negative stereotypes that
portray young African American males as being lazy,
incompetent, loud, drug addicted juvenile
offenders who spend most of their life being unemployed or
incarcerated. Research has been
established that teachers make their decisions for referrals
based on whether a child is non-
threatening or “teachable.”
Another plausible answer to the problem is the subjective and
unreliable procedures
associated with placement of African American males in special
education. Teacher referrals and
educational testing are the two primary measures to determine if

13. a student is in need of special
education services. Both of these measures pose significant
problems because of their lack of
reliability. There is a prevalent belief that pejorative referrals
and misdiagnosis occurs more in
the softer categories of special education classification. Mainly
it is because these categories do
not require verifiable biological criteria such as hearing loss
and vision impairment. There are
two types of tests used in the assessment and diagnosis of
behavioral or learning disabilities that
include intelligence tests and behavioral assessments (Johnson,
2006).
DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN
SPECIAL 8
Research Method
The population of this study consists of elementary and
secondary students across the
nation enrolled in public schools. The study will use Ad Hoc
and Ex Post Facto data compiled
from the Composition Index (CI), the Risk Index (RI), and
Relative Risk Ratio. It has been

14. determined that the most intuitive method of measurement for
disproportionality is the
Composition Index. The Risk Index is the proportion of a given
group served in a given category
and represents the best estimate of risk for that outcome in that
group. This measurement
compares the proportion of individuals placed in special
education with the total population of an
ethnic group that represents in the population. Data collected at
different levels of aggregation
(school, agency, and state) are provided by officials in each
area. Since it is understood that local
education staff have already provided information to SEA
officials in conjunction with
established administrative records systems, U.S. Department of
Education staff do not contact
local personnel to verify data except in unusual circumstances.
Edits are performed by survey
staff and referred to state education agency (SEA) respondents
for resolution. It is Common Core
Data policy to accept the judgment of the respondent unless
there is a clear conflict or
unacceptable inconsistency.
Data Collection and Analysis

15. The data was compiled by the National Center for Educational
Statistics utilizing survey
instrumentation. The Public Elementary/ Secondary School
Universe file includes data for the
following variables: NCES school ID number, state school ID
number, name of the school, name
of the agency that operates the school, mailing address, physical
location address, phone number,
school type, operational status, locale code, latitude, longitude,
county number, county name,
full-time- equivalent (FTE) classroom teacher count, low/high
grade span offered, Congressional
DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN
SPECIAL 9
district code, school level, free lunch eligible students, reduced-
price lunch eligible students,
total free and reduced-price lunch eligible, migrant students
enrolled in the previous year, student
totals and detail (by grade, by race/ethnicity, and by gender),
and pupil/teacher ratio. The file
also contains flags indicating whether a school is Title I
eligible, school wide Title I eligible, a

16. magnet school, a charter school, and/or a shared time school.
Findings
The findings of this study revealed that there is a significant
correlation between race and
gender for educational placement in special education. Further,
the findings revealed that there
is also a significant between race and gender and high school
dropout rates. In the 2006-07
academic years, approximately 16 percent of the total
elementary and secondary public school
population was enrolled in high poverty schools. Thirty three
percent of African American
students as compared to four percent of White students attended
high poverty schools.
In the academic year of 2005-06, less than half of all African
American male students
received their diploma with their graduating class. Findings
further reveal that the rate African
American males are dropping out or being placed in special
education are significantly higher
than the rate they are graduating. Graduation rates for this
population during this academic year
were ranked at forty-seven percent. Almost half of the nation’s
African American population

17. attends high schools where graduation rates are ranked among
the lowest. There currently are
between nine hundred and one thousand high schools in the
country where graduation percentages are a
fifty/fifty split. In comparison, only eleven percent of White,
non-Hispanic students attend low
graduating high schools.
DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN
SPECIAL 10
Discussion
One of the most significant findings of this study was the
correlation between race and
gender for education placement of high school students in
special education. These findings are
consistent with those of Skiba, et al. (2008), Weinstein, et al.
(2004) and NABSE (2002).The
aforementioned researchers reported that African American
male students were more likely to be
overrepresented in special education populations. A plausible
explanation for this finding may be

18. attributed to the referral and testing practices used by teachers
and counselors in the educational
setting.
Another notable finding of this study pertained to a significant
relationship between race
and gender and high school dropout rates. Ethnicity was found
to be significantly related to high
school dropout. This finding corresponds with Darling-
Hammond (2004), Donavan & Cross
(2002), Johnson (2006) and Greene (2006). These researchers
found a significant relationship
between ethnicity and dropout among high school students. A
subjective explanation for this
finding for this area might be that African American students,
more than their White, non-
Hispanic counterparts, have limited access to educational
resources and lack of cultural
sensitivity in the educational community.
DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN
SPECIAL 11

19. State By State Graduation Rates for Black Male Students
Figure 1
Schott Foundation for Public Education 50 State Report male
data portal
DROPOUT RATES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES IN
SPECIAL 12
References
Darling-Hammond, L. (2004). Inequity and the right to learn:
Access to qualified teachers in
California’s public schools.. Teachers College Record, 106(10),
1936-1966.
Donovan, M., & Cross, C. (2002). Minority students in special
and gifted education.
Washington, DC: National Academic Press.
Greene, J. (2006). Leaving boys behind: Public high school
graduation rates. Civic Report, 48.
Retrieved from http://www.manhattan-
institute.org/html/cr_48.htm
Jackson, J., & Weidman, P. (2006). Race, racism and science:
Social impact and interaction.
New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

20. Johnson, P. (2006). Counseling African American men: A
contextualized humanistic
perspective. Counseling and Values, 50(3), 187-196..
National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) &
ILIAD Project. (2002). Addressing
overrepresentation of African-American students in special
education. Washington, DC:
U.S. Government Printing Office.
Schott Foundation for Public Education. (2008). Given half a
chance: The Schott 50 state report
on public education and Black males (Fact Sheet). Retrieved
from The Schott Foundation
for Public Education: http://blackboysreport.org/node/13
Skiba, R., Simmons, A., Ritter, S., Gibb, A., Rausch, M.,
Cuadrado, J., & Chung, C. (Spring
2008). Achieving equity in special education: History, status
and current challenges.
Council for Exceptional Children, 74 (3), 264-288.
Weinstein, C., Tomlinson-Clark, S., & Curran, M. (2004).
Toward a conception of culturally
responsive classroom management. Journal of Teacher
Education, 55, 25-40. Retrieved
from www.jsc.montana.edu/articles/v4n16.pdf

21. Research Paper:
7 – 8 -pages research paper germane to social inequality (Racial
Justice). The research paper must be typed, double-spaced,
12pt.font size
APA format, with APA references, and contain at least 8
references (must be from within the last 5 years) to include
research, position paper, theoretical paper, or review of
literature published in professional journals. A research article
has method(s).
A Review consists of summarizing the literature, research
methods, research findings, research discussion and
implications.
The paper points will come from the content and the other
points will be based on APA formatting. Remember, there can
be no plagiarism. If anyone has been found to have plagiarized,
it would mean an automatic grade of F.
Research Topics: Racial Justice
The below would be the possible outline for my paper:
1. Recruitment and Racial Equity
2. voting Rights and Enfranchisement
3. Criminal Justice
4. Address Healthcare Disparities
5. Implicit Bias and Public Policy, Implicit; Bias can be
Individual and Institutional
6. Environmental Justice and Racial Equity
7. Economic Justice and Racial Equity
Online Resources
http://www.apastyle.org/previoustips.html (APA Style of
Editorial Writing)
http://www.psychwww.comlresource/apacrib.htm (APA Style
Resources) http://www.citationmachine.netlapalcite-a-book
(Cite a source)
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/0 11 (Writer's

22. Guide) https:/ /www.perrla.com/(APA/MLA formatting
Software)