Addressing gender bias in access to special education
Subject
Abstract
This project seeks to address teacher knowledge of the issue of gender bias in special education. For many years, educators have been aware that there is an issue of over-referral for racial and ethnic minority groups and there is a substantial literature base that demonstrates this. However, a newer topic of interest is the under-referral of female students to special education. This work addresses why this gender bias exists, the greater context of referral bias within the education system, and how it can be addressed through increased understanding of Response to Intervention (RTI) by classroom teachers.