The Relationship Between Overrepresentation of Minority Students and Explicit and Implicit Bias

The disproportionality of minority students referred to or qualifying for special education exceeds the number of minority students in the total school population. Many minority students will receive special education services in a secluded program or classroom. It can prevent students from receiving the appropriate education guaranteed to them. A teacher’s explicit or implicit bias could be a factor in determining the reason why disproportionality of minority students is referred to or qualify for special education services. The research indicated a trend on the over-representation of minority students being referred to or receiving special education services. However, the research on biases as a factor in determining the overrepresentation of minority students in special education services remains mixed due to the limited amount of research. Because racial bias is the current problem surrounding this country, further research should be done to learn more. Culturally responsive pedagogy should be used to train a teacher to become more multicultural in different perspectives and sociocultural conscious. Teachers have the power to engage all students in learning, and instead of accentuating deficits, they should be stressing a student\u27s instruction culturally and responsively, together in school and out of school