Professor is Co-PI on U.S.D.E. Institute of Education Sciences continuation grant

Distinguished Professor of Education George Farkas is Co-Pi on a two-year USDE Institute of Education Sciences grant to continue his study of the effects of racial and ethnic disproportionality in K-12 special educational placement on educational outcomes.

Farkas previously found that once students with similar needs (measured by reading and math test scores) for special education services are compared, nonwhite students have much lower special education placement rates than white students. He and principal investigator Paul L. Morgan, Professor, Penn State University, will now be expanding this research to examine over time trends in this phenomenon, as well as the effects of special education on student outcomes. 

​Farkas’ research has made a major contribution to understanding the school achievement gap for low income and ethnic minority students. He has employed a range of statistical approaches and databases to examine the causes and consequences of this gap across varying age groups and educational settings, and was one of the first to show that the gap emerges in early childhood.