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From: nccrest@cudenver.edu
Date: 02/03/04

Volume 1, Number 7 (December 2003NCCRESt News, Volume 1, Number 7
(December 2003)NCCRESt News, Volume 1, Number
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NCCRESt News, the electronic newsletter of the
National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems
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Volume 2, Number 1 January 2004
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In this issue:

==> NCCRESt Update: Advisory Board Meeting
==> What States are Doing to Reduce Disproportionality: Indiana's
Disproportionality Project
==> Events: Common Solutions: Inclusion and Diversity at the Center (March
19-20)
==> New Resources: What Keeps Teachers Going?, "Lies My Teacher Still
Tells," and Education Week's Quality Counts' Report 2004
==> NCCRESt Support Desk
 
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NCCRESt UPDATE
 
==> Advisory Board Meeting

NCCRESt held its second annual advisory board meeting on January 14th and
15th, 2004 in Washington, D.C. Participating members included Philip Chinn
(California State University, Los Angeles), Kayte Fearn (Council for
Exceptional Children), Betty Green-Bryant (Council for Exceptional
Children), Dixie Jordan (Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational
Rights), Joy Markowitz (Project Forum at the National Association of State
Directors of Special Education), James Patton (The College of William and
Mary), Kristin Reedy (Northeast Regional Resource Center), Brenda Townsend
(University of South Florida), Lee Vargas (Hacienda La Puente Unified
School District), and Kenneth Wong (Vanderbilt University). The Principal
Investigators presented an overview of NCCRESt's conceptual framework,
highlighted accomplishments of the past year, and identified key areas of
focus for each of the four core teams: Continuous Improvement,
Professional Development, Research and Development, and Networking &
Dissemination. Members also participated in an activity designed to help
NCCRESt hone its public message; i.e., a summary statement as to what
essential issues NCCRESt is confronting and what action it believes should
be taken.
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WHAT STATE'S ARE DOING TO REDUCE DISPROPORTIONALITY

In this new feature of NCCRESt News, we will focus on strategies that
states are using to organize change efforts. In this issue, we are pleased
to highlight Indiana's Disproportionality Project. What approach is your
state taking to reduce the disproportionate representation of culturally
and linguistically diverse students in special education? Please let
NCCRESt know what actions your state is taking to make education more
equitable for all students; email us nccrest@cudenver.edu.

==> Indiana's Disproportionality Project

<Overview>

The Indiana Disproportionality Project (IDP), a collaboration of the
Indiana Department of Education and Indiana University, has been studying
and addressing the disproportionate representation of culturally and
linguistically diverse students in special education for the past four
years. During the first two years, the project concentrated on collecting
quantitative data in order to understand where disproportionality
occurred, what patterns it had, and which areas of the population were
most affected. In the third year, the project conducted a qualitative
interview study in seven diverse districts to explore the causes of
disproportionality at the local level.

<Quantitative Data>

Three data sets were used to describe special education enrollment across
Indiana's 295 school corporations for the 1998-1999 and 2000-2001 school
years: 1) general student enrollment, 2) disability category enrollment
by ethnicity, and 3) service setting (e.g., mainstream vs. separate class)
by ethnicity. General enrollment figures for each school corporation in
the state were obtained from the Indiana Department of Education's Web
site. Data for disability category and setting for each of Indiana's 295
school corporations were drawn from data collected and maintained by the
Indiana Department of Education Division of Special Education.

Based on a review of existing methodology, the Indiana Education Policy
Center chose three criteria as a guideline for determining whether a given
proportion of ethnic representation represents disproportionality at the
local level: 1) the P +/- 10% of P comparison of proportions first
recommended by Chinn and Hughes (1987), 2) a two sample z-score test that
assesses statistical significance of discrepancies, a method that has been
used as one criteria by the U. S. Office for Civil Rights, and 3)
case-by-case review in categories with less than 10 African Americans
enrolled, in order to avoid undue influence of single cases.

In the last year, IDP's methodology has shifted to reflect the emerging
national conversation regarding measurement of disproportionality. Thus
IDP is using three indices: the composition index, the risk index, and
the relative risk ratio to describe the extent of disproportionality
across the state and in individual school districts. As a criterion
measure, a chi-square test determines whether the observed
disproportionality at the district level is significantly different from
proportionality. IDP continues to use the "10 student rule" as a lower
limit to apply any statistical criteria.

<Equity Action Projects>

When IDP presented the qualitative and quantitative data to the special
education directors from all seven participating districts, three special
education directors volunteered to undertake Equity Action Projects (EAP)
that would begin to address the issues of disproportionality in their
districts. The following year (June 2003), IDP organized a state
conference on disproportionality, which was attended by 21 districts with
disproportionality. Five of those districts then volunteered to join the
original three districts in creating Equity Action Projects.

EAP combines an insider/outsider approach, in this case the school
district and the university, with an action research approach to creating,
learning about, and systematizing change to address issues of equity in
the school setting. IDP staff works directly with district staff to
research best practices, analyze data, and help facilitate discussion
while leaving the decisions on plan design to the district-based teams.
The model combines what IDP believes about creating sustainable change
with what we know about best practices in education.

The planning phase of the Equity Action Project model evolves differently
in each district as it addresses the following five questions:
* What do we know about disproportionality in our district?
* What actions can we take to have the greatest impact on
disproportionality in our schools?
* Who needs to be part of the planning team?
* How do we include others in the process?
* How will we know if we are making a difference?

Participating districts are at varying stages in the process, two in
implementation and six in planning. The pre-referral intervention process
is being explored by four districts. One district is looking at parent
involvement and has created a task force to address the achievement gap,
another district is looking at classroom instruction. The process is
stalled in one district and at an exploratory stage in the other.

A few preliminary findings:
* Focus groups are an invaluable part of the process both for information
finding and including more stakeholders in decision-making. * Issues of
equity are difficult to talk about; time to do so is necessary.
* The ways in which a plan will actually address disproportionality, and
the ways in which we will know if it's working, need to be part of every
meeting.

For more background information about Indiana's Disproportionality
Project, please visit http://www.indiana.edu/~safeschl/minor.html.
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EVENTS

==> Common Solutions: Inclusion and Diversity at the Center
March 19-20, 2004 (Post-conference: March 21) * Syracuse, NY

This conference will explore how schools and communities can address
social justice issues in integrated ways through curriculum, pedagogy,
school climate, teacher/staff training, advocacy, and policymaking.

Keynote speakers will include:
* James Banks, Russell F. Stark Professor and director of the Center for
Multicultural Education, University of Washington and author of Cultural
Diversity and Education
* Norman Kunc, longtime activist and spokesperson on disability and
inclusion

Organized by Syracuse University, the event is designed for anyone
interested in disability rights, disability studies, and inclusive
education. For more information, visit
http://soeweb.syr.edu/prodev/conferences.htm
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NEW RESOURCES

==> What Keeps Teachers Going?

What helps great public school teachers persevere—in spite of everything?
Sonia Nieto, a renowned teacher educator, takes a close look at what can
be learned from veteran teachers who not only continue to teach but also
manage to remain enthusiastic about it. This inspirational volume provides
advice on how some urban teachers are solving the everyday challenges of
student learning. Dr. Nieto collaborates with experienced teachers in
urban schools who are especially effective working with students of
culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds—students who are among
the most marginalized in our public schools. Offering an alternative
vision of what's important in teaching and learning, Dr. Nieto concludes
with an urgent call to advance new national priorities for public
education. Contents include:

* Teaching as Evolution
* Teaching as Autobiography
* Teaching as Love
* Teaching as Hope and Possibility
* Teaching as Anger and Desperation
* Teaching as Intellectual Work
* Teaching as Democratic Practice
* Teaching as Shaping Futures
* Final Thoughts: What Keeps Teachers Going in Spite of Everything?

For more information, visit the Web site of Teachers College Press:
http://store.tcpress.com/0807743119.shtml

==> "Lies My Teacher Still Tells: Developing a Critical Race Perspective
Toward the Social Studies"

In the chapter, "Lies My Teachers Still Tells," which appears in Critical
Race Theory Perspectives on the Social Studies, Gloria Ladson-Billings
argues "one of the central concepts that we predicate many of our social
lies on is the concept of race." She suggests that race is an ever-present
concept in the social studies—in the curriculum, the profession, and its
policies and practices. However, she adds, "Most social studies and
history textbooks avoid the term 'race' altogether." She says, the
question, "What is race?" invariably creates a sense of discomfort. "No
one wants to talk about it since it represents such a contradiction of
American life. We like to talk about having transcended race or at least
having gotten past it. But, we still have a contradictory and intertwined
stance toward it."

This chapter is available for free from Information Age Publishing's Web
site:
http://www.infoagepub.com/products/products1/Ladson-Billings-Chp1.pdf

==> Education Week's new Quality Counts report

Within a decade, federal law requires that all students—including those
with disabilities—be performing at the "proficient" level on state tests.
It's a challenge of unprecedented proportions, particularly for the
nation's nearly 6.6 million children receiving special education services.
Until now, such students have largely been excluded from state testing and
accountability systems—and often from mainstream instruction. Quality
Counts 2004: "Count Me In: Special Education in an Era of Standards"
examines this issue in-depth. Educators and parents of special education
students alike find themselves on both sides of the fence, torn between
wanting to raise expectations for students with disabilities and concerns
that such children could suffer harsh or unintended consequences as a
result.

Not surprisingly, Quality Counts 2004 finds that concern continues that
culturally and linguistically diverse students are overrepresented in some
special education categories--and that many children are misidentified for
special education simply because they did not receive effective
instruction in the first place. The report features a "State of the
States" section with state report cards, data tables, and profiles. To
download a copy of the report, visit Education Week's Web site:
http://www.edweek.org/sreports/qc04/

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NCCRESt SUPPORT DESK

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For more information about NCCRESt, please contact:
Shelley Zion, Project Coordinator
National Center for Culturally Responsive
Educational Systems (NCCRESt)
1380 Lawrence Street, Suite 625
Denver, CO 80204
Phone: 303-556-3990
Fax: 303-556-6141
Email: shelley.zion@cudenver.edu
Web: www.nccrest.org
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NCCRESt is a technical assistance center funded by
the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education.
Project Officer: Grace Zamora Duràn. Award No. H326E020003.
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