A Comparison of Inclusive versus Resource Classroom Placement for Black Students with Mild Disabilities at the Secondary Level: Is There a Need for Separation?

The overall academic achievement of Black students in the public school systems of the United States has long been a major source of concern for educators, government officials, legislators and parents (Marcus-Newhall & Heindl, 1998). The history of educational opportunities for Blacks has many negative and unequal components. It was believed that the 1954 landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, which banned segregated schools, would improve Black students‘ academic achievement and soon equal that of their White peers (Marcus-Newhall & Heindl). The direct purpose of the decision was to provide equal educational opportunities regardless of race, and indirectly to improve race relations and Black students‘ academic achievements through inter-group contact at young ages (Marcus-Newhall & Heindl). However, fifty years since the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruling, Black students continue to academically lag behind other ethnic groups. Reasons, such as the fluctuation of parental involvement (Hoover-Dempsey& Sandler, 1995) and the negative effects of school mobility 63 of 87 (Rumbarger & Larson, 1998), for this societal dilemma have been studied and reforms, which were originally intended to help solve the problem, have become a source of the problem (Grant, 1992).