Special Education Listserv

Subject: Disproportionality Prevention

Source: Thea Scott, Supervisor, Compliance

Intended Audience: Educators

Date: March 18, 2008

The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt) provides tools for parents and professionals to use in an effort to close the achievement gap between children of culturally diverse backgrounds and their peers and to reduce inappropriate referrals to special education. 

NCCRESt has posted a Practitioner Brief on the topic of disproportionality prevention entitled Preventing Disproportionate Representation: Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Prereferral Interventions.  This document outlines best practices for professionals who encounter culturally and linguistically diverse students in order to promote academic success and prevent unnecessary referrals to special education.  The emphasis of this Practitioner Brief is on prevention of disproportionality.  This brief is available at http://www.nccrest.org/publications/briefs.html.