In categories where placement is dependent upon tests that have been reported to be biased against minorities, Black students represent an excessively high percentage of students enrolled in these classes. The recent decline in scholastic achievement test scores indicates American education is not improving. In the case of Larry P. versus Riles, a number of Black elementary school children asked the California Circuit Court to issue an injunction preventing the San Francisco school district from using IQ tests to place any Black children in special classes for the educable mentally retarded. Not only is testing a bias culprit of misdiagnosis and overrepresentation, but the ignorance of cultural differences is also a factor in the process. This perception can lead to a student being identified as being below normal or abnormal on measures of adaptive behaviors.
Placement is special education classes do little is anything to solve the original problem.
This is because special education classrooms are likewise not set up to meet the needs of students with cultural differences. Another controversial cause of the misplacement of Blacks is low self-esteem. Lisa Clark Evans, a fifth grade teacher in a multiethnic classroom in San Diego, California, expresses a view held by many elementary school teachers. Although there is not a current solution in place, several proposed answers are emerging. This testing instrument is non-biased toward all ethnic groups.