Like personnel issues, overidentification is not a
new concern to special educators. Moreover, overrepresentation of culturally-diverse and linguistically-diverse students in special education is a fact
based on both legal and research findings. On the one hand, overidentification can be traced to unfair, unreliable, and invalid assessment and diagnostic practices. On the other hand, disproportionality can result from a lack
of cultural competency, understanding cultural diversity and being able to
accommodate for the diverse needs and preferences of students who are culturally and linguistically diverse. While cultural competency has many different definitions, Hanley (1999), as cited in Edgar, Patton, and Day-Vines
(2002), sees it as “the ability to work effectively across cultures in a way that
acknowledges and respects the culture of the person being served” (p.10).
According to Daugherty (2001), the number of ethnic minority group
members will increase significantly in the future, and by the year 2020, the
majority of school-age children in the United States will be from racial or
ethnic minority groups. At the same time, the number of teachers and other
service personnel who are European American comprise over 85% of our
education workforce (Edgar et al., 2002). The resulting imbalance may lead
to inappropriate referral decisions and placements in special education.