When Hickory Public Schools landed on a warning list for identifying a significantly disproportionate number of Black students as having mild intellectual disabilities in 2017, it took a look at its practices.
At that time, the district was more than six times as likely to place a Black student in Exceptional Children (EC) services for mild intellectual disability (mild ID) than a student of any other race. Upon closer examination, the district realized the disparity extended to many other areas, too.