Date of Award

5-31-2026

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education/Leadership in Urban Schools

First Advisor

Denise Patmon

Second Advisor

Bodunrin O. Banwo

Third Advisor

Wenfan Yan

Abstract

The American public education system relies heavily on normed and standardized mechanisms to define competence, behavior, and academic success. By design, such systems cannot accommodate the full range of human variation and instead reproduce expectations rooted in dominant culture norms. When embedded within a racially stratified educational system, Special Education, while intended to provide access and opportunity for students with disabilities, can function as a mechanism through which inequality is reproduced. This qualitative study examined the persistent overrepresentation of Black males identified with Emotional Impairment in highly restrictive separate day school settings. The research was conducted in a public separate day school serving students with high levels of need, located in a large urban area in the Northeast region of the United States. Guided by an intersecting conceptual framework of Critical Whiteness Studies, Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the study investigated how Individualized Education Program (IEP) language contributes to placement decisions that remove students from general education environments. Primary data sources included IEPs, with focused analysis of the Parent Concerns, Key Evaluation Summary, and Student Vision sections, as well as semi-structured interviews with educators. Findings revealed patterned, deficit-oriented discursive constructions of Black male students that emphasized behavioral risk and normalized highly restrictive placements while maintaining the appearance of neutrality and legal compliance. The analysis demonstrated the disproportionality was not produced by individual intent, but through routine institutional practices in which racialized and ableist logics were embedded in professional judgment and codified through written language. This study contributes to the literature by shifting analytic attention from outcomes to process, illuminating how educational trajectories are shaped through discourse at a critical institutional decision point. Implications are discussed for educator preparation, professional learning, and the ethical implementation of Special Education law and policy.

Comments

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