Emotional or Behavioral Disorder (EBD) and restrictive placement: an analysis of systems of oppression in research, practice, & policy.

Abstract

Before and following the passage of the Education for all Handicapped Children Act (EHA; now known as IDEA), special education or de facto special education practices have been informed by systems of oppression such as racism and ableism. Within this context, students from racially-minoritized backgrounds have been disproportionately identified as Emotional or Behavioral Disorder (EBD) for decades. The biases of staff potentially impact special education identification and placement, especially in light of how ambiguity in legal documents may set the stage for cognitive biases to impact decision-making. Further, the escalation of students from racially-minoritized backgrounds into restrictive settings effectively serves as a type of segregation. As such, this multi-study dissertation sought to first examine predictors of restrictive placement for students identified as EBD utilizing a Quantitative Critical Methods (QuantCrit) lens. Results from the first study indicated that exposure to racism and sexism predicted restrictive placement and scales measuring behavior inconsistently predicted placement. In light of the results of the first study, the second study in this multi-study dissertation utilized Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine how systems of oppression such as racism and sexism are encoded in policy documents and student records about the behaviors of students identified as EBD. Results from the second study in this multi-study dissertation indicated the ubiquitous presence of White, middle-class norms, color-blind racism, and institutionalized power in student FBAs and policy documents. Recommendations for practice such as the removal of coded language about race and gender in student FBAs have been provided.