When are students identified to have learning disabilities? The effect of student-teacher race match.

This paper estimates the timing of identifying students with disabilities when students are race matched to their teachers. Early identification is vital for students that need additional resources to ensure a proper education. Delaying proper education for even a year may have drastic consequences on the trajectory of a student’s future. I utilize a Cox proportional hazard model to estimate the timing of identifying students with disabilities based on whether the student is race matched to their teacher or not.