School Improvement Status and Outcomes for Students with Disabilities

Contractor: American Institutes for Research and NORC at the University of Chicago

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 $12.5 billion in FY 2011, 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.

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 evaluating schools required to adopt programs to improve academic outcomes for students with disabilities. The focus of the study is on the inclusion of students with disabilities (SWDs) in school accountability systems and the variation in school practices and evaluating the effectiveness of improvement efforts in schools that have failed repeatedly to make adequate yearly progress for students with disabilities in particular grades and subjects. The evaluation is addressing the following research questions:

• To what extent are schools accountable for the performance of the students with disabilities (SWD) subgroup, and how does this accountability vary across schools and over time?
• To what extent have schools accountable for the SWD subgroup been identified as needing improvement?
• How does school accountability for the SWD subgroup relate to regular and special education practices for students with disabilities?
• How does school accountability for the SWD subgroup relate to student with disabilities' participation in, and performance on, academic assessments in mathematics and reading?

Design:

The evaluation will rely on descriptive statistics and regression discontinuity methods to study how student outcomes and school practices vary with school accountability for the SWD subgroup. Data sources for the evaluation include extant data from the Department of Education's EDFacts database and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), as well as 2011 surveys of principals and special education designees from elementary and middle schools in 12 states.

Cost/Duration: $3,626,218 over 60 months (February 2008 to February 2013)

Current Status:

An interim report, relying on analysis of EDFacts data, is expected to be released in spring 2012. A final report, relying on analysis of data from EDFacts, the 2009 NAEP, and 2011 surveys of school staff, is expected to be released in early 2013. Reports from this study will be announced on http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/.