Notwithstanding the historical persistence of the disproportionate representation of ethnic minority students in special education, there is a scarcity of research on factors affecting the placement of minority students in these programs. The purpose of this study was to identify placement predictors in learning disabilities (LD) programs for Latino, African-American, and Anglo students. We used 12 predictor variables from two key domains (student and family) and used placement data from a national database of eighth-grade students. We found that although some factors predicted placement in LD programs for all ethnic groups, placement predictors also varied by student ethnicity. Based on these findings, we provide implications for research and practice from a sociocultural perspective.
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