IDEA National Assessment Implementation Study

Contractors: Abt Associates, Westat, and Windwalker Corporation

Background/Research Questions:

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004) is the most recent authorization of a law passed in 1975 to promote a free appropriate public education for children with disabilities. Funded at $12.6 billion in FY 2010, IDEA supports early intervention services for infants and toddlers, special education services for children ages 3 through 21, and early intervening services for students not in special education but in need of academic or behavioral support. IES is conducting studies under Section 664 of IDEA 2004 to assess the implementation and effectiveness of key programs and services supported under the law.

The IDEA National Assessment Implementation Study (NAIS) was designed to provide a national picture of state agency and school district implementation of IDEA across the Part C early intervention and Part B special education programs. This contract addressed the following implementation questions for the National Assessment of the IDEA:

• What are the Part C early intervention program service delivery models for infants and toddlers and how are Part C programs coordinated with Part B special education programs for preschool-age children, specifically in the support of children who may transition across programs?
• How are state agencies and school districts implementing the IDEA provisions to prevent inappropriate identification?
• How are early intervention agencies, state educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) implementing measures to improve child and youth outcomes through developmental and academic standards and highly qualified staff?
• To what extent do state agencies and school districts engage in dispute resolution with parents and guardians, and how has the incidence of disputes changed since the 2003–2004 school year?

Design:

Data collection included three surveys of state administrators: (1) state Part C program coordinators who are responsible for early intervention programs serving infants and toddlers; (2) state Part B program coordinators who oversee programs for preschool-age children with disabilities; and (3) state Part B program coordinators who oversee programs providing special education services to children and youth with disabilities. A fourth survey collected district-level data from a nationally representative sample of local special education administrators. These data were analyzed together with relevant information from State and Federal websites and from pre-existing surveys of SEAs and school districts.

Cost/Duration: $2,271,022 over 51 months (September 2007 to December 2011)

Current Status: The final report was released in July 2011 (see http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20114026/).

Key Findings:

• State Part C agencies support the transition of toddlers with disabilities to Part B preschool-age special education programs, but Part C has not expanded to serve children until kindergarten. At age 3, toddlers receiving Part C services transition to Part B services (if eligible), typically involving a change in lead agency and often a change in support staff, service settings, and services.
• Most school districts (85 percent) do not use IDEA Part B funds to provide Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS). IDEA 2004 permits, and in some cases requires, school districts to use some of their Part B funds to provide CEIS, services for students not yet identified as needing special education. These services are meant to address the overrepresentation of racial/ethnic minority students in special education.
• Most school districts implement Response to Intervention (RtI), use RtI data when determining specific learning disability (SLD) eligibility, and support RtI with district general funds. RtI, a range of practices for monitoring student academic and behavioral progress and providing targeted interventions, was added to IDEA in 2004 as a way to inform the determination of SLD and implement CEIS.