MULTICULTURAL SPECIAL EDUCATION 1

Multicultural Teaching Strategies in Special Education, and the

Problem of Overrepresentation

Molly M. Boling

Georgia State University

EDUC 2120: Exploring Socio-Cultural Issues in Education

December 3, 2021
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Today’s public schools in the U.S. encompass a broader demographic of students and

teachers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds than ever before. An urgent need

that has been identified over the past several decades is for more culturally responsive educators

and better teaching strategies for diverse learners, and many have risen to meet this challenge, at

least on the surface. Disability and race are two issues that intersect and interact together in

classrooms and have an impact on the culture of the classroom and the interactions between the

teacher and the students. This research paper is interested in exploring the topic of multicultural

education for students with disabilities in special education and seeks to understand whether

these same strategies which are touted in general education are explored as often or considered

as important in the field of special education as they are in general ed.

Johnson et al. (2007) argue that “the interests and experiences of people with disabilities,

the single largest minority population in the US and the world, should be of interest to persons

who support the goals and values of multicultural education (p. 33). Unfortunately, this was

found to not currently be the case in America. In an analysis of various textbooks about disability

whose primary audiences were future teachers, the researchers found very little mention of

disability culture and argued for the need for greater cultural awareness and representation in

teacher preparation programs and in special education classrooms (Johnson, et al., 2007). Why

disability culture is so often overlooked when we think of multicultural education is a complex

issue with many layers, and largely stems from a lack of acceptance of people who are perceived

as “different” in our culture. Johnson et al. (2007) refer to disability as “a constellation of

anatomical, emotional, and intellectual characteristics that are not only different but unwanted,

undesirable, and inferior to an accepted and valued norm or standard” (p. 33). Although some
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acceptance and celebration of disability has become popularized, particularly in the deaf

community, we still have a long way to go as a society for persons with disabilities to be

acknowledged as having their own cultures that are unique to them and to have broader cultural

understanding of disability.

The cultural inequity persons with disabilities experience becomes particularly apparent

when we examine the structure of special education in America. Johnson et al. (2007) describe

this as a “focus on the needs and deficits that accompany disability and the specialized

accommodations, adaptations, and instruction required to promote achievement and success

equivalent to or approximating the standards of success for nondisabled persons” (p. 33). Instead

of recognizing and celebrating the differences of students with disabilities, special education is

categorizing these students by their weaknesses and attempting to assimilate them into a world

where ableism is promoted, and disability rejected. These students are taught from an early age

that they must try to be more like their peers in general education classrooms. This seems

counterintuitive when we consider the model of multicultural education, which is supposed to be

about learning about and accepting the differences of others and maintaining an open dialogue

about those differences. It seems that as a society we have not yet successfully confronted our

prejudice towards disability, and our negative attitudes are thus trickling down into our school

systems and impacting students.

An issue that is often discussed and may shed further light on the lack of multiculturalism

in special education is the complete overrepresentation of Black and Latinx students in special

education classrooms. In fact, as Ford (2008) stated in his article for Exceptional Children, “the

fields of special education and gifted education are not exempt from these tensions, particularly

regarding the issue of disproportionality [i.e., overrepresentation in some special education

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categories, and underrepresentation in gifted education]” (p. 262). What this points to is not

necessarily a higher incidence of disability or a lack of gifted intelligence in minority

communities, but rather a systemic issue of racial discrimination and a lack of cultural

competence amongst a largely white educational establishment. Overrepresentation in special

education is a complex issue which ultimately ties back to civil rights, is much broader than the

field of education itself, and has much to do with racial segregation, how schools are funded, and

who society has deemed deserves access to public goods and who does not (Chamberlain, 2005).

Many believe this is where culturally responsive teaching comes into play, as teachers who are

less culturally aware are at risk of mislabeling Black and Latinx students as disabled, thus

denying them educational opportunities. Obi, et al. (2001) explain that “differences in culture can

act as effective barriers for African American students and families in school programming.

General educators often turn to special education for assistance to some extent, place African

American students in at-risk positions that magnify denigrating stereotypes” (p. 93). So now,

instead of celebrating cultural diversity, teachers who lack the proper training and cultural

responsiveness are further isolating students through their misunderstanding and setting them up

to potentially be mislabeled for the rest of their lives. It is problematic that special education is

being used as a tool in this way, a place for teachers to send the students who they do not know

how to teach. The seemingly small act of a classroom referral for a behavioral issue when a

teacher is unaware of their student’s cultural background or how to teach that student properly

can have life-altering negative consequences for that student (Skiba, et al., 2008).

Improving teachers’ cultural competence is an important piece in reducing

overrepresentation in education. Rather than ignoring differences and avoiding conversations

about diversity, educators need to be actively seeking information about their students’ cultures
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so they can make better-informed decisions about how they are teaching, assessing, and

disciplining the students in their classrooms. Obi, et al. (2001) argue that “if students’ differences

are ignored, they will probably be given instruction that is not suited to their cultural styles or

needs. They are then likely to fail to learn many socialization skills necessary for helping them

develop appropriate social perceptions and interactions with others” (p. 95). We can see how

avoidance of differences does not make those differences disappear, and in fact often makes

them worse and more difficult to confront.

Many of these issues around the lack of culturally responsive teaching in special

education and the overrepresentation of Black and Latinx students can be addressed by

improving the rigor of teacher preparation programs and placing a greater emphasis on

multicultural education for all future teachers. As Zeichner, et al. (1998) suggested,

“multicultural perspectives [should] permeate the entire teacher education curriculum, including

general education courses and those in academic subject matter areas” (p. 165). This should

undoubtedly be applied to the area of special education preparation as well. Classrooms are a

political environment, and it is not possible to teach any subject without the culture of the people

in the classroom defining the way the interaction will go. Teachers need to keep this idea of

cultural competence in mind every single day when they go into their classrooms.

Although teacher preparation programs will often nod to the importance of

multiculturalism in education, findings suggest that in reality, the efforts are mostly superficial

and do not dig deep enough. Webb-Johnson, et al. (1998) stated that “most programs address

cultural diversity issues by means of a foundations course on multicultural issues. Too often,

these courses offer generic information on how isolated cultural markers influence learning and

development” (p. 8). A single course about multiculturalism is not enough to prepare future
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teachers for real-life interactions with real students experiencing completely diverse home lives

and cultures. Colleges and universities must do more to prepare future educators to be successful

in classrooms working with students from diverse backgrounds. Regardless of general education

or special education preparation programs, there should be a cultural component in every course

that future educators are required to take. As Rodriguez (1982) states, “multicultural guidelines

are not aimed at training teachers to work exclusively with [students with disabilities] from

particular minority backgrounds. Quite the contrary, these guidelines are intended to assist in the

training of teachers for exceptional children that will provide the most meaningful education for

all of their students, regardless of their ethnic composition” (p. 227). The disconnect of preparing

teachers to work with diverse learners by offering them only one course on multiculturalism is

that preparation programs are teaching future educators to view multiculturalism as an isolated

concept, rather than pairing this notion with all of the other concepts they are learning. This goes

against a whole-child approach and makes it difficult for future teachers to begin to learn how to

acknowledge and accept the differences of their students and incorporate those differences into

their teaching styles.

Although there are many challenges in preparing teachers to effectively teach students

with disabilities in a way that is culturally responsive, there are always things that can be done to

improve this field and provide students with the best, most inclusive educational services

possible. At the micro level, it starts with teachers knowing themselves and their own culture and

biases as well as getting to know their students. It would also be meaningful for teachers to get to

know the families of their students to better understand their home lives and the knowledge that

the students bring into the classroom each day. Having more awareness of each students’ culture

should then inform how teachers conduct assessments with students, and a high level of cultural
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sensitivity must be kept in mind during formal assessments as the results may have important

implications for the students’ futures. Before referring a student to a specialist who might

provide a life-altering diagnosis and place a student unnecessarily in a special education

program, teachers need to intervene early on and perhaps seek a professional opinion of a fellow

educator who has cultural similarities to the student, as they would be able to provide more

accurate, appropriate, and culturally responsive opinions on the student’s situation. On a macro

level, systemic reform is needed in our education system and the process of special education

referral needs to be seriously reexamined. Perhaps students with high-incidence disabilities

should not be placed in special education and should just get the extra support they need in their

general education classrooms. Tracking often has a detrimental impact for the future success of

students, and it is difficult to differentiate between which students have been placed in special

education for a legitimate need and which have ended up with this classification due to cultural

insensitivity and racial bias (Skiba et al., 2008).

In conclusion, it is apparent that more effort is needed in the field of special education to

incorporate elements of multiculturalism into curricula and teaching strategies. As stated by Obi

et al. (2001), “as the nation changes, so do the students, and so must schools in order to meet the

needs of a widely varied student population” (p. 94). Although there is a clear deficit in

multiculturalism in special education programs in general, it is clear from the overrepresentation

of Black and Latinx students in special education programs that general education teachers are

not as culturally competent as they might think. We must continue to be open to growing our

knowledge of ourselves and others and constantly challenge our internal biases and these

systems of oppression in order to create equal educational opportunities for all students.
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References

Chamberlain, S. P. (2005). Alfredo Artiles and Beth Harry: Issues of Overrepresentation and

Educational Equity for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Intervention in

School & Clinic, 41(2), 110–113. https://doi.org/10.1177/10534512050410020101

Ford, D. Y. (2008). Culturally Diverse Exceptional Students: Remembering the Past, Looking

Toward the Future. Exceptional Children, 74(3), 262–388.

Johnson, J., & Nieto, J. (2007). Part III: Creating Multicultural Classrooms: Towards a Cultural

Understanding of the Disability and Deaf Experience: Implications of a Content Analysis

of Introductory Special and Multicultural Education Textbooks. Multicultural

Perspectives, 9(4), 32–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/15210960701569641

Obi, S. O., & Obiakor, F. (2001). Empowering African American Exceptional Learners: Vision

for the New Millennium. Western Journal of Black Studies, 25(2), 93.

Rodriguez, F. (1982). Mainstreaming a Multicultural Concept into Special Education: Guidelines

for Teacher Trainers. Exceptional Children, 49(3), 220–227.

Skiba, R. J., Simmons, A. B., Ritter, S., Gibb, A. C., Rausch, M. K., Cuadrado, J., & Chung, C.-

G. (2008). Achieving Equity in Special Education: History, Status, and Current

Challenges. Exceptional Children, 74(3), 264–288.

Webb-Johnson, G., Artiles, A. J., & Trent, S. C. (1998). The Status of Research on Multicultural

Education in Teacher Education and Special Education: Problems, Pitfalls, and

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Promises. Remedial & Special Education,  19, 7–15.

https://doi.org/10.1177/074193259801900102

Zeichner, K., Grant, C. A., & Gay, G. (1998). A Research Informed Vision of Good Practice in

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