20440
Potential Ethnic Disparities in Special Education Classroom Quality in a Large Urban County
Although many evidence-based practices for ASD exist, our understanding of how prepared community-based providers are to deliver high-quality intervention to children with ASD is limited. Additionally, limited data have examined disparities in educational services based on minority populations in ASD specific classrooms. Careful characterization of usual care settings and identification of specific areas of strength and weakness may enhance professional development efforts and increase quality care across populations. This information may help researchers and providers optimally match evidence-based interventions and training programs to community settings based on characteristics of the intervention, student and teacher population, and current community practice, and thereby improve the likelihood of effective implementation.
Objectives:
The purpose of this study is to systematically evaluate special education classroom quality in a large sample of urban classrooms and to compare quality in classrooms across districts serving a high proportion of Hispanic students with those serving a high proportion of White students.
Methods:
Data were collected from 109 special education teachers in a large urban county who participated in an effectiveness trial for a classroom-based intervention for students with ASD. All teachers had at least one student with ASD in their classroom and represented a wide range of classroom types, teaching experience, and education levels. Trained members of the research team with classroom experience conducted the Professional Development Assessment (PDA), an evaluation for programs serving children with ASD. The PDA includes a 2-hour observation, a 30-min teacher interview and educational records review. PDA outcome scores were averaged across seven domains (Teaming, Classroom Structure, Classroom Environment, Curriculum, Social/Peer Relationships, Management of Challenging Behavior, Instructional Climate) and compared across districts based on majority student ethnicity. Teacher and student demographic data were gathered through self (or parent) report for all participants.
Results:
Overall, classroom quality was high across classrooms except in the domain examining supports for Social/Peer Relationships. The quality of special education classrooms varied by domain and majority student ethnicity (Hispanic or White) across school districts. Significant differences in quality were identified across 5 domains (Classroom Structure, Classroom Environment, Social/Peer Relationships, Management of Challenging Behavior, and Instructional Climate) with classrooms in districts with 50% or more Latino students demonstrating lower overall quality as compared to districts with less than 50% of students reporting ethnicity as Latino.
Conclusions:
Special education classrooms in one urban county have a high level of quality and therefore may represent good environments for the implementation of evidence-based practice. However, differences in quality associated with student ethnicity indicate potential disparities in school-based programs for Latino children with ASD. Methods of adapting training procedures to address disparities will be discussed.