Intelligence Testing and Judicial Policy Making for Special Education

For a generation, at least, Black children have been scandalously overrepresented in public school classes intended for mildly retarded individuals. But identifying exactly what makes this a scandal and whom we should blame is not so obvious. Are we scandalized because the grounds for the disparate assignment of Black and White children to such classes are erroneous or because they are correct? Assuming that these disproportionate placements are erroneous, as it is generally assumed, at whom should the finger of wrongdoing be pointed: Testers? Teachers? School "systems"? Families? The children themselves? School boards? Legislatures? The courts? And who has the power and responsibility to right the wrong? The last question may bear the taint of hubris by suggesting a neat and quick solution in the face of a problem of biblical proportions. Three hundred years and more of race slavery and segregation cannot be wished away or even washed away with good works and good intentions. We have no right to expect problems with deep causes will have easy or complete solutions. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore public policy issues of such importance. In this paper, I look at the attempt to address this educational issue through the courts. I will focus attention on the transformation that takes place as an issue of educational and racial policy becomes a legal issue and how that transformation shapes and limits the judicial solution ordered and the educational solution provided.