Community members discuss impact of Special Education disparities

Marquis Sanders says that when was in elementary school, he didn't read very well.

Sanders, now 33, identifies himself as a product of the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Teachers were concerned, he says, and told his parents that they believed he had dyslexia. But before Sanders was evaluated for special needs, his parents had him independently tested.

It turns out Sanders didn't need special education services to succeed. He graduated high school, and went on to earn a master's degree in business.

Had Sanders' parents not questioned his teacher's assumptions, he says he would have been labeled as having a disability. As a black male in the Madison Metropolitan School District, his story would have been familiar.

In early October, Madison Commons reported that black students are disproportionately represented in special education services [1], especially when it comes to disabilities based on students' behavior or classroom progress.

Aydin Bal, an assistant University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and expert in the role culture plays in special needs identification and services, said that a label can sometime become a "self-fulfilling prophecy," one that can lead to low-esteem and underachievement.

Sanders agrees, and says he saw many of his friends follow the pattern.

"Imagine you're an 8-year-old and you're given this label," he says. "Now you have low self-esteem. You believe you're dumb. By the time you get to high school, you're behind everyone else," he says.

"At that point, you know that school should be important, but your whole life people were telling you that you weren't going to be productive, so you drop out. Why keep on trying?" he adds.

John Harper, MMSD's executive director of educational services, said last week that racial disparities in special education are "nested" within the greater achievement gap.

Once the district positively impacts the achievement gap, it will dramatically reduce disproportionality in special education, he said.

Bal and Harper agree: there's no single approach or easy solution to closing the gap. One piece of the puzzle, they say, is including more parents in the conversation about how to best help their children learn.

But what stands in parents' way, and how do we hurdle the roadblocks to better dialogue? The following are portions of interviews with experts and community members. Here's what they have to say:

Aydin Bal, UW professor and expert

Aydin Bal is currently collaborating with the MMSD, studying the interplay between culture, learning and behavioral problems.

We need to consider whether we give equal opportunities to Madison parents.

Do black parents have the same access to their kids' education as white parents? We have to look at school environment, at the academic and social context. Harvard offers a world-class education, but we could ask ourselves if we'd feel at home and comfortable there.

We're doing something new in Madison by including parents in the conversation and making their input part of our research. It's almost impossible to find literature where students' families are working with researchers and administration.

The tendency is to oversimplify the reasons for the achievement gap. That's when our biases and prejudices enter. We're more likely to make a generalization and say it all comes down to poverty or racism or poor family structure.

I've found that in many ways, school contact is more important than family contact in terms of educational outcomes.

The achievement gap requires ground-up solutions. We can't ignore the power of the family and we need to find a way to bring the family into the solution.

Fabu Phillis Carter: children's advocate, poet, parent

Fabu Phillis Carter is a UW-Madison graduate with Master's degrees in African Languages and Literature and also in Afro-American Studies. She is Madison's former poet laureate. Her son attended school in Madison.

Many African-American parents do not believe the school system is a friend.

"Special education" carries a connotation that a child is inferior. For parents, there's a feeling that if they buy into the process, they're agreeing that something is wrong with their child. They think it's a reflection on them, and ask themselves, what have I done wrong?

So now you're asking parents to come in and listen to all the things that are wrong with their child, not what the child is capable of. Teachers assume they are going to tell the parent something about their child that they don't already know.

Schools are inviting parents, but they're not inviting parents in a way that's most welcoming to them. The language that they're using, and the approach that they're taking is inherently disrespectful. Teachers use a formalized language of instruction that nobody should be required to know.

As a single, black mother attending parent-teacher conferences, I remember feeling that teachers assumed I was ignorant. I was treated like I wouldn't understand school language. Teachers seemed condescending and obtuse.

Putting all that aside, if a child genuinely needs those services, schools need to find a way to offer the services in a way that will help them and not hurt them.

In the past, there was a parent-liaison who understood these issues, someone who could advocate for the perspective of the teacher, and the position of the parent. These were men and women dedicated to making parents feel safe in the schools. There was a quantifiable improvement in the schools. But that position was phased out.

Teachers have to understand and respect that there is a distinct African-American culture — one that's extremely relational — and that you have to build bonds with children and parents.

When the district finds a different way to offer services to kids in a way that won't make them feel that they're wrong, that will flow over to parents.

Dr. Alex Gee: community leader, pastor, parent

Dr. Alex Gee is the senior Pastor of Fountain of Life Covenant Church and the president and founder of the Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development. He attended the Madison school district, which his daughter now attends. She is an applicant for the National Honor Society.

It's not that black parents are scared and intimidated to get involved in their children's education — they're not.

It's not a lack of parents getting involved, it's a matter of whether the parent is coming from a place of power and whether they have the knowledge or resources to challenge the teacher's assumptions.

My daughter does very well in school, but there have been times we've questioned a teacher's approach and were met with the feeling of 'who do you think you're talking to?' Black parents are talked to liked they're an imposition to teachers.

It's part of the blaming the victim, it's part of the sickness of Madison. They say they want parents being involved, but then parents come in and they're like 'who do you think you are to tell me how to do my job.'

I'm tired of the conversation about how do we get more African-American parents involved, when my wife and I — who are educated, middle class parents — experience hostility and disrespect when we try to get involved in our daughter's education.

The tension also raises a problem for our daughter, because she's afraid of backlash against her if we speak out.

There might be a conversation that could help, but honestly, it gets so ugly that I'm not even sure that I feel like having it.

These students aren't being labeled as problematic because the parents aren't there. It's happening at every level, whether the parent is there or not. This is happening to parents who are educated, parents who are middle class.

You cannot find a black parent who is completely happy. Find one who doesn't have the story that I have.

Linda Ketcham: social justice advocate, parent

Linda Ketcham is the executive director of Madison-area Urban Ministry, a faith-based organization dedicated to social and restorative justice, formerly incarcerated men and women, and the lives of children.

Some of the people we serve, especially black men, have been so traumatized by their own experiences in the Madison school district that we have to role play ways to effectively advocate for their kids.

We have to understand that the more people we incarcerate, the more people we disempower at a number of levels. When parents has a felony, they don't participate in school board elections. They have no voice and their children essentially have no voice.

It's incumbent on the district to create an atmosphere that recognizes the disparities and the urgency. I don't know if I could stay calm if I knew that my kid had a 50-50 chance of even graduating based on the color of their skin.

That's pretty urgent. It's not some theoretical discussion we can afford to have for the next 20 years like we've had over the past 20 years.

I'd like to see school board members hold listening sessions throughout all Madison neighborhoods. Superintendents have this, why not school board members? We maybe can't have them at every school, be we could hold listening sessions at a representative sampling of schools.

I'd also like to see them held at a time when parents wouldn't have to incur the costs of child care. Evenings or weekends might be a good option.

It's not just about how we perceive children, it's how we perceive parents.

Teachers and administration have to recognize white privilege. We live in a country where the systems in place were created by white people for the benefit of white people. The systems that created disadvantages — from housing to segregated neighborhoods and school systems — are still in play today.

Until people see how these systems have created layer upon layer of disadvantages and until we understand how all that builds upon itself, we can't hope to dismantle it.

Mario Garcia Sierra: former program director of Centro Hispano

Mario Garcia Sierra served four years with Centro Hispano, an organization that aims to improve the quality of life for Latinos in Dane County by empowering youth, strengthening families, and engaging the community.

It's vital for parents to be involved in their kids' education. It's a piece of the puzzle that works if you have a clear strategy for what you are seeking as a school or a district.

But we need to start doing things that we haven't done. We need to think outside of the box.

There are parents who want to be involved, who are coming to meetings and want to be at the table. One of thing that needs to be improved is meeting logistics.

For example, when parents have kids in different schools, it's difficult to make the meetings. The situation is more difficult if parents don't have a vehicle or a driver's license. Many parents work two or three jobs, and time is a consideration.

Meetings at community centers, or meetings that take place on Saturdays have had good attendance in the past.

When you invite parents to come to meetings, you need to take into consideration what parents are saying. And that's not the feeling that some parents get. I think schools need to do a better job of listening to the ideas that parents bring.

The other element for being able to connect with Latino parents is that we have a good number of educators in the district who speak Spanish, and more of those people could take the lead.

When you're dealing with Spanish-speaking parents, you need people who understand the language as well as the culture.

We need to create a safe program. People need to feel comfortable and know that if they come, they will be respected and their opinions taken into consideration.

There's a need for more cultural understanding, and this be can expressed through an atmosphere of celebration. Even sharing food, for example, is a great way to exchange culture.

We already know what works and what doesn't work. It's a matter of will, and who can make this happen.

These interview segments have been edited for clarity.