This article details a three-year ethnographic study employing grounded theory to investigate the overrepresentation of minority students in special education. The authors address methodological considerations in qualitative research and present a visual model illustrating their analytic process. Their research in an urban school district explored the decision-making processes contributing to this disproportionality. The findings suggest that a complex interplay of factors, including assumptions about families, perceived student deficits, administrative policies, and external pressures, contribute to the issue. The authors argue for the value of qualitative methods in understanding such intricate social phenomena, emphasizing that no single factor adequately explains overrepresentation. They also reflect on the challenges and limitations of applying grounded theory in educational research, advocating for methodological transparency and dialogue.

keepSave to notecopy_alldocsAdd noteaudio_magic_eraserAudio OverviewschoolBriefing doc