Placing Children in Special Education: A Strategy for Equity -- Copyright -- Contents -- PREFACE -- REPORT OF THE PANEL -- 1 Introduction: Disproportion in Special Education -- THE EXTENT OF EMR DISPROPORTION IN AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS -- POTENTIAL CAUSES OF DISPROPORTION IN EMR PROGRAMS -- Legal and Administrative Requirements -- Characteristics of Students -- Quality of the Instruction Received -- Possible Biases in the Assessment Process -- Characteristics of the Home and Family Environment -- Broader Historical and Cultural Contexts -- DISPROPORTION: PROBLEMATIC OR SYMPTOMATIC? -- A LOOK AHEAD -- 2 Placement in Special Education: Historical Developments and Current Procedures -- WHO ARE THE CHILDREN CLASSIFIED AS EMR? -- Some Descriptive Information About the EMR Population -- Age -- Sex -- Socioeconomic Status, Ethnicity, and Sociocultural Factors -- Biosocial Characteristics -- HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION -- Origins of Special Education -- Intelligence Testing for Placement of Mentally Retarded Students -- Developments in the Special Education System -- Disproportionate Placement of Minorities and Court Decisions -- Mainstreaming in Regular Classes -- Federal Legislation and the Rights of the Handicapped -- CURRENT PROCEDURES IN EDUCATIONAL PLACEMENT -- A Description of the Placement Process -- Factors Influencing the Placement Process -- The Effects of the Placement Process on Minority Students -- 3 Assessment: Issues and Methods -- COMPREHENSIVE INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT -- IQ Testing: Controversies, Implications, and Alternatives -- The Nature-Nurture Issue -- The Issue of Test Validity -- The Issue of Racial and Cultural Bias -- Bias in the Test Situation -- Item Bias -- Differential Prediction -- Conclusion -- Alternative Measures of Intellectual Functioning -- Conclusions.

Individual Measures Outside the Intellectual Domain -- Biomedical Measures -- Adaptive Behavior Scales -- COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT IN CONTEXT: A TWO-PHASE PROCESS -- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS -- 4 Effective Instruction for Mildly Mentally Retarded Children -- EVIDENCE ON EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION FOR MILDLY MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN -- The Question of Setting -- Features of Effective Instruction -- Academic Outcomes -- Social Outcomes -- Cognitive Process Skills -- CONCLUSIONS -- Instructional Setting -- Categorical Labeling -- SUMMARY AND SOME CAUTIONS -- Masking Individual Differences -- Unknown Effects on Other Children -- Behavioral Bias in Research -- Evaluation Criteria -- Conclusion -- 5 New Approaches to Assessment and Instruction -- MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS: PRINCIPLES OF RESPONSIBILITY -- Alternative Strategies Within the Regular Classroom -- Implications for Implementation -- Suggested Research -- On Alternative Strategies Within the Regular Classroom -- On the Evaluation of Natural Experiments -- On the Assessment of Learning Environments -- Valid Assessment -- Implications for Implementation -- Suggested Research -- On the Identification and Development of Measurement Instruments That Validly Assess Functional Needs -- On Current Practices Providing an Alternative to IQ Tests -- On Current Practices That Incorporate Broader Measures of Individual Functioning -- Classification and the Provision of Needed Services -- Implications for Implementation -- Suggested Research -- On Implications of Labeling Children on the Basis of Patterns of Functional Needs -- On the Impact of Revised Classification Systems -- On the Effectiveness of Alternative Instructional Approaches -- Evaluation of the Quality and Effectiveness of Special Education -- Implications for Implementation -- Suggested Research -- On Measurement Technologies.

On Administrative Practices -- Retention in the Special Education Classroom -- Implications for Implementation -- Suggested Research -- On Retention Guidelines -- On Children Who Require Ongoing Services -- Examination of the Patterns of Special Education Placement -- Implications for Implementation -- Discussion -- RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OCR'S DATA COLLECTION AND MONITORING -- The OCR Surveys -- The Questionnaires -- Level of Aggregation -- Checks on the Data -- Research on Hispanic and Other Minority Groups -- Research on Small School Districts -- Research on Southern School Districts -- References -- BACKGROUND PAPERS -- Biological and Social Factors Contributing to Mild Mental Retardation -- HISTORICAL OVERVIEW -- EPIDEMIOLOGY OF MILD MENTAL RETARDATION -- Types of Data -- Limitations of the Data -- Prevalence of Mild Mental Retardation -- VARIATIONS RELATED TO POPULATION SUBGROUPS -- Socioeconomic Differences -- Racial and Ethnic Differences -- Sex Differences -- Geographic Differences -- Age Differences -- Summary -- THE BIOSOCIAL ROOTS OF MILD RETARDATION -- Preconception Influences -- Genetic Factors -- Demographic Risk Factors -- Early Prenatal Influences -- Intrauterine Infections -- Maternal Alcoholism -- Perinatal Influences -- Postnatal Biosocial Influences -- Malnutrition -- Lead Intoxication -- Family Resources, Child-Rearing Practices, and Individual Learning Styles -- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS -- References -- Classifying Mentally Retarded Students: A Review of Placement Practices in Special Education -- INTRODUCTION -- PLACEMENT MODELS -- EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON PLACEMENT -- Screening And Referral -- Federal Mandate -- Increases in Enrollment -- Who Does the Referring? -- What Influences Screening and Referral Rates and Content? -- Outcomes of Identification -- Minority Representation and Screening and Referral -- Conclusion -- Evaluation.

Federal Mandate -- How Are Evaluations Conducted? -- What Influences Assessment Decisions? -- What Is the Quality of the Decision? -- Minority Representation and Evaluation -- IEPs and Least Restrictive Environments -- Federal Mandate -- Status of Implementation -- Problems in Implementation -- Content of IEPs -- Requirements for Least Restrictive Environments -- Minority Representation and IEPs -- Parental Involvement and Due Process -- Federal Mandate -- Status of Implementation -- Problems in Implementation -- Minority Representation, Parental Involvement, and Due Process -- SUMMARY -- Screening And Referral -- Evaluation -- IEPs and Least Restrictive Environments -- Parental Involvement And Due Process -- Conclusion -- References -- Testing in Educational Placement: Issues and Evidence -- TESTING ON TRIAL: BRIEFS FOR THE DEFENSE AND FOR THE PROSECUTION -- WHAT DO "INTELLIGENCE" TESTS MEASURE? -- ARE TESTS BIASED? -- Bias In The Test Situation -- Item Analysis: Ruby Is A Red Herring -- Differential Predictive Validity -- WHAT CAUSES INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP VARIATIONS IN IQ? -- CONCLUSIONS -- References -- Effects of Special Education Placement on Educable Mentally Retarded Children -- EFFICACY STUDIES -- Sampling -- Instrumentation -- Identification Of Treatments And Populations -- RESEARCH IN THE POST-EFFICACY STUDY ERA: THE EFFECTS OF MAINSTREAMING -- Definitions of Mainstreaming -- Academic Achievement of EMR Children -- Social Adjustment -- Special Education Placement and the Minority Child -- Effects of Mainstreaming on Non-EMR Children -- Effects on Academic Achievement -- Effects of Labels -- Social Acceptance of EMR Children by Their Non-EMR Peers -- Effects of Mainstreaming on Teachers -- Effects of Teachers Expectations -- Teachers Attitudes Toward Mainstreaming -- Factors Affecting the Implementation of Mainstreaming -- CONCLUSION.

References -- Some Potential Incentives of Special Education Funding Practices -- THE FEDERAL SPECIAL-NEEDS PROGRAMS -- The Education for All Handicapped Children Act -- Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 -- The Bilingual Education Act -- Other Programs -- THE STATE ROLE IN FINANCING SPECIAL EDUCATION -- Types of Funding Formulas -- Implications of Funding Arrangements -- Resource-Based Formulas -- Child-Based Formulas -- Cost-Based Formulas -- A Comparison of Formulas -- INCENTIVES IN THE FEDERAL APPROACH TO FUNDING SPECIAL SERVICES -- NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE FUTURE -- CONCLUSION -- References -- Patterns in Special Education Placement As Revealed By the OCR Surveys -- THE 1978 OCR SURVEY -- TECHNICAL ISSUES -- Measuring Group Differences in Placements -- Disaggregation of Data -- Scoring Disproportion for Districts and States -- GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN DISPROPORTION -- THE AVAILABILITY PHENOMENON -- DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS AND DISPROPORTION -- Enrollment -- Percentage of Minority Enrollment -- Socioeconomic Standing -- Desegregation and Racial Balance -- STUDENT SUSPENSIONS AND EMR DISPROPORTION -- TIME SPENT IN EMR CLASSES -- DISPROPORTION IN OTHER SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS -- Trainable Mentally Retarded -- Seriously Emotionally Disturbed -- Specific Learning Disabilities -- Speech-Impaired -- Summary -- EMR DISPROPORTION IN SEPARATE RACIAL OR ETHNIC GROUPS -- Blacks -- Hispanics -- American Indians or Alaskan Natives -- Asian or Pacific Islanders -- Socioeconomic Standing and Suspensions for Specific Minority Groups -- DISPROPORTION AND STATE EMR CRITERIA -- References -- APPENDIX -- Examples of Smoothing Data for Small Districts.