Technical Assistance Center on Disproportionality (TACD) project, formerly known as Chapter 405, at the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education (Metro Center), is contracted through the New York State Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID) to develop, implement, and assess a process of providing comprehensive technical assistance and professional development trainings to New York State School Districts that are addressing issues of disproportionality.
Technical Assistance Center on Disproportionality’s work includes building the capacity of 
regions and
districts in understanding the root cause and systemically addressing the disproportionate assignment of various subgroups in special
education. This entails providing professional development trainings, coaching, training follow-ups, materials, and resources. The
resources include a Web-Based Clearinghouse, a Disproportionality Data Repository (DDR), Data
Analysis Workbook, research based articles,
journals, and manuals.
News Center
- TACD's project leaders have been selected to present at the Equity Alliance at ASU’s, Leadership for Equity and Excellence 2010. The conference, Reinvesting in Equity: Building Bridges and Tearing Down Walls will be held in Phoenix, Arizona on February 16-17, 2010. Dr. Eddie Fergus, TACD’s PI and Roey Ahram will conduct a workshop on Metro’s Data Analysis Workbook. This workshop will provide participates with strategies on how to measure disproportionality using basic qualitative methods. Alan Ripp and Fredrick Mann will also conduct a workshop on Grouping Students. This workshop will provide participants on strategies of how to differentiate instruction in the classroom. The conference includes educators, policy makers, students, parents, advocacy groups, and community members who will gather and share current research and best practices about building and strengthening systems of educational equity.
- TACD project leaders will be providing an overview of the project and presenting At Risk Boys and Principles of Culturally Responsive School Environments workshops at Roosevelt UFSD Superintendent’s Day Conference on November 3rd.
- Metro Center's Black and Latino Male Advocacy Coalition project releases report on Dropout Crisis among Black and Latino Males in NYC Public Schools.
Key findings from the report include:
- Among the 2006-2007 cohort for NYC high schools, nearly 19% of Latino males and 14% of Black males dropped out.
- Black and Latino male dropouts tended to be overage. Among the dropout population, overage students (e.g., one year older than average of student population) comprised 16% of the population, in comparison to other groups where overage students were 3% or lower.
- A large portion of Black and Latino males who dropped out remained in high school for at least three years. After three years of high school, more than 70 percent of the students who dropped out were still in school.
- TACD partnered with the Nassau TRACT Teacher Center at Adelphi University to host a full-day Culturally Responsive Education conference on October 21st. Opening activities included a welcome address by Barbara DelliCarpini and Les Cohn of the TRACT Center followed by a TACD project overview by Dr. Edward Fergus, NYU Metro Center's Deputy Director. The morning highlight was a keynote address entitled Equity and Access in Culturally Responsive School Environments presented by our own Dr. Pedro Noguera, NYU Metro Center, Executive Director. In the afternoon, TACD project leaders presented concurrent Principles of Culturally Responsive School Environment workshops.Click here to view video.