Low-income school districts are most likely to place students in special education programs for mild and sometimes questionable disabilities, a practice that has swelled the state’s special education population to one of the highest rates in the nation, according to a first-of-a-kind study commissioned by the state.
The study - to be presented at a state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting Monday night - is expected to provoke debate over whether low-income districts are placing students in special education because of legitimate disabilities or because of weak academic programs that cause students to fall behind, or because some teachers want unruly students out of their classrooms.
That low-income districts are more likely to identify special education students debunks a long-held belief in Massachusetts that it is the savvy, well-heeled parents in wealthier districts who have been pushing up special education rates as they demand advantages for their children, such as extra academic support and waivers from time limits on standardized tests.
“The thesis almost universally accepted throughout the state - that wealthy parents are driving this process - is not found at all,’’ said Thomas Hehir, one of the study’s authors, who is a professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and is a former director of the special education office at the US Department of Education.
Hehir said it is reasonable to expect low-income students to be diagnosed with disabilities at higher rates than other students because they are more susceptible to health problems, such as those caused by high exposure to lead or by lack of prenatal care....
The study, however, faulted affluent districts in one area: Even though they had lower overall enrollment rates for special education, they were more likely to refer their small populations of low-income students for special education. The study offered no explanation for that finding....
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