An analysis of the representational pattterns of English language learners receiving special education services in school districts in South Texas

摘要

This study examined the representational patterns of English language learnersreceiving special education services in school districts in South Texas. Additionally, thisstudy identified school district characteristics that were related to the probability that anEnglish language learner might be placed in special education programs. Data werecollected from the Texas Education Agency'????????s Performance-Based Monitoring AnalysisSystem 2004-2005 and Academic Excellence Indicator System for the 2003-2004 schoolyear. Composition indices, risk indices, and relative risk ratios were calculated andreported for each of the school districts in Education Service Centers I (Edinburg), II(Corpus Christi), and XX (San Antonio) in the State of Texas (N=110). Pearson product-momentcorrelation coefficients were calculated to determine the direction and strengthof the relationship among odds ratios and school district characteristics. Thesecharacteristics included total student enrollment, percentage of poor/underservedstudents, percentage of Latino students, percentage of English language learners, percentage of Latino teachers, and percentage of students in bilingual/English as asecond language programs.Results indicated that English language learners in school districts in SouthTexas were more than twice as likely as their non-English language learner counterpartsto receive special education services. Additionally, inverse relationships weredocumented for odds ratios equal to or greater than 2.00 and the school districtcharacteristics of percentage of poor/underserved students, percentage of Latino students,percentage of English language learners, percentage of Latino teachers, and percentageof students in bilingual/English as a second language programs. It was concluded thatthere was an overrepresentation of English language learners receiving special educationservices in 77% (N=85) of the school districts in South Texas.