*5.4. Disproportionality in Education for People of Color and People with Disabilities*

The issue of disproportionality in special education has persisted over the decades. In the United States, the disproportionate representation of students of color and with disabilities in special education continues to be reported and studied in the literature. Disproportionality is referred to as "the overrepresentation and underrepresentation of a specific demographic group in special education relative to the presence of this group in the overall student population" [47] (p. 1]). There has been perpetual rampant discrimination against culturally and linguistically diverse students and students with disabilities, thereby resulting in disproportionality. While in the United States, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has been amended to account for this challenge of misrepresentation of minority groups in special education, more national data are needed to further address this grave problem [47]. Overall, emphasis needs to be placed on gathering demographic data on race and ethnicity and disability status, allowing an intersectional view of oppression, and ultimately, equity.

According to Artiles and Trent (1994), researchers have yet to create thorough analyses incorporating both history and social factors in special education issues that would assist in the development of better policies and practices for marginalized groups [48]. It is critical to consider these factors when collecting national, and large-scale data, as Van Roekel (2008) proposed in a call to action for policymakers and other stakeholders to collaborate in reducing disproportionality in special education [47]. However, the reality is that there needs to be richer data that shed light on this issue. While it is well-documented that disproportionality exists in the United States [47,48], little is known about this issue in other countries around the world, suggesting that developing nations could prioritize this work to inform equitable policies for people with disabilities [49].

## *5.5. Other Critical Variables: Income Status, Educational Attainment, and Family Structure*

Beyond gathering expanded categorical data related to race and/or ethnicity, gender identity, and disability status, there are several other critical demographics for researchers to integrate into large educational datasets to improve equitable outcomes for students, their families, and their communities. First, and at all levels, it is critical to gather the household or family income level as a proxy of a student's socioeconomic status. After decades of analysis of large, longitudinal educational datasets, it has been established that understanding an individual's, school's, or community's socioeconomic status can help identify gaps in educational services for low-income people [16,50], including high-quality teachers and school buildings, transportation to school, meals at school, and other factors known to affect one's educational experiences and outcomes.

Although closely related to income status, it is also critical for education researchers and policymakers to gather educational attainment data at all levels, including access and completion rates at the intermediate/middle school, secondary/high school, and postsecondary/higher education levels. In most developed nations, educational attainment data has been used to understand how or if people have equitable access to educational institutions and whether policies can positively impact one's ability to earn secondary and postsecondary credentials and improve their economic future [3,4,9,16]. At the postsecondary level, a wealth of research has emerged from large, national datasets to suggest that students who do not have parents who have earned a bachelor's degree (known as first-generation college students) do not access postsecondary education or earn salaries at the level of their peers [51]. Moreover, equity gaps widen between first-generation students of color and White peers, suggesting that it is important to understand a student's race and/or ethnicity and their parent's educational attainment to identify and stem equity

gaps [51]. As a result, it is critical to gather data related to educational attainment to build datasets that understand education gaps at multiple levels to advocate for policy to fill these gaps.

Finally, it is critical to understand the family or household structure that a student is raised in to understand that student's educational opportunities and future. Researchers across the world have investigated the roles that being raised in foster care [52], being a child of divorced parents [53], being adopted [54], and growing up in diverse living environments play in the educational attainment of children and young adults, often finding that children without supportive and consistent parenting and mentorship will not have access to the same educational experiences as privileged peers [52–54]. Although the national census in many countries may capture family or household information [55], that information must be synthesized with educational data to best understand how and where a student is raised and whether they face educational hurdles or lack opportunity.
