Abstract
It is early afternoon and a school psychologist rushes from an IEP meeting at an elementary school to Overlooked Middle school where she also is assigned. She has come to Overlooked to participate in a Behavioral Support Team meeting. Overlooked is one of three grade six through eight schools in a district that includes upper middle, middle, and lower income neighborhoods. Overlooked is the smallest and most diverse school with 16% of its students Latino, 35% African American and 49% White. The Latino population has been increasing steadily each year and there is growing resentment among teachers and some administrators about the need to become more language-sensitive. Although Overlooked has the lowest standardized test scores within the district the White students perform well and are mostly enrolled in accelerated programs. The school has a dedicated principal who has been at the school for two years and is extremely troubled by the performance of his students of color on state mandated tests. His concern is not shared by the Board of Education or Superintendent who have expressed that the lower scores should be expected due to the racial and economic diversity of the school. This sentiment is shared by many of the teachers in the building. On the agenda for the Behavioral Support Team is the significant increase of discipline referrals from the seventh grade. Most of the repeat referrals are either special education students or a group of Latino boys the school psychologist has come to know quite well. Passing through the main hall of the school she notices her latest re-evaluation student, Enrique, sitting outside of the vice principal's office. She pokes her head in and asks if everything is all right. He sullenly shakes his head and requests to come see her after school. Interestingly enough, the IEP meeting at the elementary school she just left was for his youngest sister, Daria. Similar to her three older siblings, Daria was referred in the fourth grade for having difficulty completing assignments and reading. Her assessment profile was unremarkable except for some perceptual weaknesses and slightly below average achievement. She could “fit” into a learning disability classification. The girl's principal and teacher used the same argument to push for classification that had been used with her siblings. A smaller environment and more individualized instruction would help her to succeed. Unfortunately this had not worked with her sisters or Enrique. The older girls dropped out of school in the 10th grade and Enrique is currently further below average in achievement than he was when he entered special education.