Referral for assessment or intervention has been cited as one of the most important predictors of future special education eligibility (Artiles & Trent, 1994) because most students referred for consideration of special education are eventually placed in special education programs. There are different interpretations for this phenomenon. While some teachers are accurate judges in the identification of students who are in need of intervention, others have personal beliefs that may interfere with their ability to provide appropriate instruction to certain students. This study focuses on the extent to which teacher efficacy, student gender and student race can predict teacher referral. In this study I will investigate factors which may influence teachers' decisions to refer students for special education services. In order to do so, I developed case studies in which student characteristics (i.e., race and gender) were manipulated. I evaluated how teacher ratings of efficacy predicted teacher decisions to refer students for special education in a case study. I hypothesized that teachers who had high efficacy ratings would be less likely to refer students for special education services regardless of the student's individual characteristics. Results suggest that teachers with high ratings of general teacher efficacy were more likely to refer students. Additionally, the relationship between experience and referral decisions was significant indicating that teachers with experience were more likely to refer students for special education services. Although not significant, males were referred at slightly higher rates than females and African American males were referred at higher rates than any other students.
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