Interpreting Trends in the Performance of Special Education Students. Technical Report 27.

Overview & Synopsis

Using a large longitudinal database, this study examined the effect that transitions between regular education and special education across grades had on performance trends for the special education population. The study also examined the effect that changes in exemption rates across grades for students with disabilities had on performance trends. The study found that the highest achieving special education students left special education to return to general education, and that they were replaced by the lowest performing regular education students who had been referred to and found eligible for special education. The result was a substantial increase in the performance gap over time between regular education and special education students across grades. Also, the reduction in exemption rates from testing (as required under the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) added to the size of this performance gap. However, when the same group of special education students was tracked over time, the gap actually decreased slightly. Results have implications for how states report disaggregated data on students with disabilities. The report recommends that states report both on the performance of all students with disabilities and the longitudinal performance of clearly defined targeted groups of special education students. (Author/DB)