Race, Place, and Disability: Mapping Special Education Disproportionality in an Urban School District

For over fifty years, the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education programs has been investigated by researchers, policymakers, and practitioners alike. However, the complexity of the issue is still not fully understood and, despite legal challenges, reform efforts, and monitoring requirements, the phenomenon persists. This intradistrict study investigated the prevalence of racial disproportionality in the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), a large urban school district in North Carolina, during the 2023-2024 school year. Moreover, this study sought to examine the geospatial relationships between race, special education identification, and school-level characteristics using a framework combining Critical Race Spatial Analysis (CRSA) and Dis/ability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit). American Indian students, Black students, Hispanic students, and students who identified as either Pacific Islander or Two or More Races were found to be overrepresented, whereas Asian students and White students were less likely than their peers to be identified for special education services. Significant variation in racial/ethnic subgroups’ representation in special education, along with correlational relationships between racial disproportionality and school-level characteristics, was also revealed across the district’s schools. Ultimately, the study provides recommendations to support district leaders in identifying and disrupting patterns of racial disproportionality, while acknowledging the complexity of the issue and the limitations of existing research.