Disproportionality occurs when students from a particular racial/ethnic group who are receiving special education programs and services are notably over- or under-represented as compared to the overall student population.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) identifies two separate sets of requirements to address disproportionality:

• Disproportionate representation as a monitoring priority area.
• Significant disproportionality.

Data collection changed relative to race/ethnicity in the 2010-2011 school year per federal requirements. Data are now collected for seven racial/ethnic categories (American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; Hispanic; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; White; and two or more races). Previously, the data only considered five racial/ethnic categories.

Disproportionate Representation as a Monitoring Priority Area

20 U.S.C. 1416(a)(3)(C); 34 CFR §§300.173 and 300.600(d)(3)

The U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) required each state to create a six-year State Performance Plan (SPP) in response to the IDEA 2004 reauthorization and to establish goals and strategies for 20 performance indicators. Two indicators highlight disproportionate representation:

• Indicator 9 (disproportionate representation of racial/ethnic groups in special education and related services due to inappropriate identification policies, procedures, and/or practices).
• Indicator 10 (disproportionate representation of racial/ethnic groups in a specific area of disability due to inappropriate identification policies, procedures, and/or practices).

All areas of disability are considered for Indicator 9 (disproportionate representation of students receiving special education programs and related services).

Six areas of disability are considered for Indicator 10 (disproportionate representation in a specific area of disability). The disability areas considered include: autism spectrum disorder, cognitive impairment, emotional impairment, other health impairment, specific learning disability, and speech and language impairment.

States are required to monitor over- and under-representation in their districts and report findings to the OSEP for Indicators 9 and 10 in their Annual Performance Report (APR). The IDEA expectation for all states is that no district shall have disproportionate representation due to inappropriate identification policies, procedures, and/or practices.

Ratios are calculated to determine over- and under-representation (see page 5 for details). Districts with a ratio of greater than 2.5 (over-representation) or less than 0.4 (under-representation) for a particular racial/ethnic group for two consecutive years are selected for a focused monitoring activity.

Districts identified as having disproportionate representation have an opportunity to verify their data. Upon completion of the verification process, the results are reviewed in conjunction with data from multiple sources to determine appropriate focused monitoring activities.