NCCRESt

Note from the Principal Investigators

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Educators,

We are excited and pleased to welcome you to our web site. The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt) grew out of our collective and individual collaborations over the past twenty years. Each of us chose education as our profession because of the great power it has to emancipate the intellect and spirit. Over time our commitment to individual and collective self-determination, social justice, inclusion, and equity have led us to explore the abling and disabling relationships between the individual and the family, as well as social and political contexts in which they live every day. From the community to the school, social and political tensions are played out daily, anchored by historical legacies and our membership in particular groups, and flavored by our personal experiences. While these tensions are simply part of the social reality in which we operate, at times they can have particularly negative consequences in schools.

One arena that has become worrisome is in our very own professional home: education. As researchers have studied the trends in special education over time, they have noticed that some ethnic groups seem to be over- or under-represented in special education. For example, according to nationally-aggregated data (Office of Civil Rights and Office of Special Education Programs) black students are over-represented at a rate approximately twice that of whites in programs for children and youth with mild cognitive disabilities and at a rate approximately one and one-half times that of whites in programs for children with emotional/behavioral disabilities. In other circumstances, it might be predicted that Asian Americans might be identified as educationally disabled and, hence, receive special education services. Yet, there may be few or no Asian Americans in special education. Indeed, disproportionality patterns vary depending on the level at which the data are examined (e.g., national, state, district, school) and the variables included in the analyses, student factors (e.g., race, class, gender, language background), disability group (high- or low-incidence), and grade level.

Increasingly, researchers are coming to wonder if some of the under- and over-representation of students of color may stem from problems within the educational system. For instance, it may be that opportunities for early intervention are not readily available. Perhaps, students referred to special education have not had high-quality reading instruction. Potentially, supports for learning and adapting to the norms of classroom and school codes of conduct have not been available. Researchers also consider the role that poverty may play in the onset of educational disabilities.

As you can see, naming the issues and addressing them substantively in schools requires careful thought and discussion. The federal government considers this a serious issue that requires a measured and sustained response. In the fall of 2002, NCCRESt was established with federal funds to provide a beacon for the issue of the disproportionate representation of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

NCCRESt is dedicated to helping the education community develop a deeper and more thorough understanding of the intersection of ethnicity, disability, and education. Teachers, other practitioners, and school administrators need more information to help them develop culturally responsive practices and systems that embrace the multicultural diversity of the school-age population and their families. To develop such practices and systems requires that we inform our work with consciousness of the historical and cultural contexts that have brought us to this time and place of action.

Work with schools, schools systems, and states needs to be driven by accurate, up-to-date information that helps inform and direct solutions. In NCCRESt, evidence, scholarship, and networking will form the cornerstones of our work. We intend to provide technical assistance and professional development to states and local school systems to address these issues.

This web site will host a variety of resources for schools, school systems, and states to use as they help engage professionals and families in becoming increasingly culturally responsive and multicultural. Please visit us here often and be in touch. We want to know about your accomplishments and the bumps along the way. We hope you will join in this important mission, pledging first to engage in discourse about disproportionality and then to explore its root causes and potential solutions with us through the five years of this project.

Best wishes on your journey,

Alfredo Artiles Arizona State University	Janette Klingner University of Colorado, Boulder
Elizabeth Kozleski Arizona State University	William Tate Washington State University