An investigation of ethnoracial disparities found in the identification of special education disabilities at and across stages of early childhood Caroline Collins DeWitt

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

DeWitt, Caroline Collins, author.

Contributor:

University of Pennsylvania. Education., degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education policy.

Early childhood education.

Special education.

0458.

0518.

0529.

Local Subjects:

Education policy.

Early childhood education.

Special education.

0458.

0518.

0529.

Genre:

Academic theses

Physical Description:

1 online resource (230 pages)

Contained In:

Dissertations Abstracts International 87-12A

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 2026

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Civil Rights Movement brought to the fore the inequitable treatment of ethnoracial minorities, families in poverty, and children with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) established the federal right for children with disabilities to a Free and Appropriate Public Education. There is a body of empirical research suggesting that there are ethnoracial disproportionalities in K-12 special education, but there is little quality research in early childhood. The few existing nationally representative studies provide no clear, unequivocal findings and evidence several shortcomings. This body of research does not use developmentally appropriate, ethnoracial theory to understand interactions among variables predicting ethnoracial disparities in special education over the course of early childhood. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Birth Cohort, the current study addressed these deficiencies by identifying relevant variables from the Integrative Model (García Coll and others, 1996). Family poverty, participation in health care, and enrollment in center-based ECEC were tested in interaction with ethnoracial status to predict disparities at and across the birth-to-five period. This study used binary logistic regression cross-sectionally at three discrete early childhood stages to identify disparities in special education status and survival analysis to identify disparities in first-time identification across early childhood. Significant interactions were found only using survival analysis. The primary findings were that Black, non-Hispanic and Hispanic children who attended center-based ECEC in preschool were more likely to be identified for the first time as needing special education services at kindergarten entry than same race peers who did not. This pattern was not found for White children. This finding suggests that center-based ECEC at the preschool to kindergarten transition plays a distinctive role in first-time identification for minority children. These results draw our attention to the unique difficulties minority families and children face navigating "one-size-fits-all" IDEA policy. They call for future research using theoretically relevant variables and rigorous longitudinal models to further probe the nature of these inequities

Notes:

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-12, Section: A.

Advisors: Gadsden, Vivian L.; Fantuzzo, John W. Committee members: Gottfried, Michael A.; Rovine, Michael

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2026

Vendor supplied data

Local Notes:

School code: 0175

ISBN:

9798247979593

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license