Study of Early Intervention and Special Education Personnel and Services

Contractors: SRI International, Westat, RMCE, and Compass Evaluation and Research

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 (IDEA Part C), special education and related services for children ages 3 through 21 (IDEA Part B), and early intervening services for students not in special education but in need of academic or behavioral support.

Under Section 664 of IDEA 2004, IES is conducting studies to assess the implementation and effectiveness of key programs and services supported under the law. This study is supporting the analysis of extant data for the National Assessment of IDEA to examine the characteristics of early intervention and special education personnel and the services children receive. The study will address the following research questions:

• What are the patterns in the early intervention, special education, and related services that children with disabilities receive and the environments in which these services are provided?
• What is the variation in the characteristics of early intervention and special education personnel?
• What association is there, across States and over time, between the number of early intervention personnel and the environments or settings in which children are served under IDEA?
• What association is there, across States and over time, between the number of early intervention, special education, and related services personnel and the services children receive under IDEA?

Design:

This study will include synthesis of existing evidence and new descriptive analysis of data available in public use or restricted formats. Among the extant data sources that will be used are cross-sectional data from the Section 618 data submitted by States to ED and from the Schools and Staffing Survey, and longitudinal data gathered from national studies (Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study, Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies—Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999, Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study, and National Longitudinal Transition Study-2).

Cost/Duration: $985,601 over 36 months (September 2010 to September 2013)

Current Status

The contract was awarded in September 2010. The report from this study will be announced on http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/.