In Minnesota, race drives school labels, discipline | Star Tribune: ...Discrimination in the way students are labeled and disciplined has plagued special education across the country for decades, but a Star Tribune review of state and federal enrollment records shows that the problem is especially acute in Minnesota.
More than 4 percent of all black students in Minnesota are identified as having emotional or behavioral disorders, a subjective, catchall label for thousands of children considered disruptive. That rate is more than three times the national average for black students and higher than any other state in the country, according to the most recent federal data available.
Melody Musgrove, director of the federal Office of Special Education Programs, which monitors state compliance with federal law, said the Star Tribune’s findings concern her. “It certainly brings into question the civil rights of those students,” Musgrove said.
