This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Singer, J. D. Articles by Walker, D. K. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Variation in Special Education Classification Across School Districts: How Does Where You Live Affect What You Are Labeled?

Harvard Graduate School of Education

Judith S. Palfrey

The Children’s Hospital

John A. Butler

Harvard Medical School

Deborah Klein Walker

Harvard School of Public Health

Using independent information collected from the parents and teachers of a stratified random sample of 829 special education students, we compared the classification practices of five major metropolitan school districts. We examined the functional levels of students with the same labels living in different districts and tested whether differences in functional status were associated with the prevalence of the classification. To determine whether special education designations might change if the students lived elsewhere, we reclassified the students in each district’s sample using discriminant functions estimated within each of the other districts (which empirically replicated that district’s classification scheme). We found that (a) functional levels of students classified as mentally retarded, physically/multiply handicapped and hearing impaired differed across districts; (b) districts that classified more students as mentally retarded were serving less severely impaired students under this label; and (c) districts were least consistent in their use of the mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed designations and most consistent in their use of the hearing impaired and, to a lesser extent, physically/multiply handicapped designations; districts’ use of the speech impaired and learning disabled designations fell between these two extremes.

American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 26, No. 2, 261-281 (1989)
DOI: 10.3102/00028312026002261


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Blair and K. G. Scott Proportion of LD Placements Associated with Low Socioeconomic Status: Evidence for a Gradient? Journal of Special Education, May 1, 2002; 36(1): 14 - 22. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. Lester and M. Kelman State Disparities in the Diagnosis and Placement of Pupils with Learning Disabilities J Learn Disabil, November 1, 1997; 30(6): 599 - 607. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Chaikind, L. C. Danielson, and M. L. Brauen What do We Know about the Costs of Special Education? A Selected Review Journal of Special Education, January 1, 1993; 26(4): 344 - 370. [Abstract] [PDF]