Racial and Gender Bias in School Psychologists’ Special Education Classification Considerations

Abstract

For minoritized groups that disproportionately face insufficient access to clinical services, schools are often the most accessible means for formal evaluation and intervention for a range of disabilities. However, the long history of racial and gender disproportionality in special education necessitates a greater understanding of factors contributing to inaccurate identification. The current study employed a multilevel modeling framework to evaluate the influence of student race, ethnicity, and gender on school psychologists’ ( N = 229) initial special education eligibility considerations and associated confidence. The model revealed a significant four-way interaction between student race/ethnicity, student gender, participant confidence, and eligibility categories on participant likelihood ratings. These results may provide insight into the causes of the nationally documented identification disparities in schools and inform practices to reduce them. School psychologists should regularly reflect on their decision-making and work to reduce the effects of their potential biases in special education identification.