"We Cannot Possibly Meet the Needs of These Children": Complexities of Race and Disability in the Referral Process of Urban Schools

This qualitative investigation was conducted with 20 K-5 general education teachers from 10 culturally diverse schools in a large urban school district in the southeastern area of the United States. Data were obtained through semistructured interviews and referral records. Questions were designed to elicit their perspectives about special education in hopes of learning more about teacher decision making in the referral process. Interview data revealed six major themes about teacher referral decisions that led to three core conceptual categories: (a) high referrers, (b) low referrers, and (c) "contradictory paradoxes" or teachers whose responses did not match their referral patterns. The data are discussed in terms of ways in which support can be provided to make general educators more aware of special education and to prepare them to educate culturally, academically, and linguistically diverse students with disabilities.