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Lifting the Voices of Black Students Labeled With Emotional Disturbance: Calling All Special Education Researchers

Ill-defined behaviors related to emotional disturbance (ED) classification and a lack of cultural competence have contributed to the over-representation of Black children in special education. Several meta-analyses and systematic reviews of the literature have been conducted to examine the topic of over-representation, but to date, there remains debate surrounding this issue. At the same time, and in recognition of the fact that statistical analyses from quantitative research do not lend voice to the participants in research studies, there is a dearth of qualitative research studies focused on Black students eligible for special education under an ED label where the researchers spoke to the students themselves, rather than asking others (e.g., teachers, parents) about them. In the current forum paper, we call attention to this issue by reviewing the existing studies where researchers have spoken to Black students with ED about their school experience, and we place a call to action before the field of special education researchers.