Project Activities
Research question
- To what extent were schools accountable for the performance of the students with disabilities (SWD) subgroup, and how did this accountability vary across schools and over time?
- To what extent were schools accountable for the SWD subgroup identified as needing improvement?
- How did school accountability for the SWD subgroup relate to regular and special education practices for students with disabilities?
Structured Abstract
Design
This evaluation relied on descriptive statistics to study patterns of school accountability across states and over time and to examine how school practices varied with school accountability for the SWD subgroup. Data sources for the evaluation included extant data from the U.S. Department of Education's EDFacts database and 2011 surveys of principals and special education designees from elementary and middle schools in 12 states.
Key findings
- Across the 44 states with relevant data and DC, 35 percent of public schools were accountable for the performance of the SWD subgroup in the 2009–10 school year, representing 59 percent of SWDs in those states. In those same 44 states and DC, 62 percent of middle schools were accountable for SWD performance, while 32 percent of elementary schools and 23 percent of high schools were accountable.
- In 31 states with relevant data, 56 percent of public schools were not accountable for the SWD subgroup in any of the 4 years examined, in comparison with 23 percent of schools that were consistently accountable in each of the 4 years.
- Among schools that were consistently accountable for the performance of the SWD subgroup across 22 states during the 4 years, 56 percent were never identified for school improvement over this time period. By comparison, among schools that were consistently not accountable for SWD subgroup performance in these states, 80 percent were never identified for improvement.
- When surveyed in 2011, elementary schools accountable for the SWD subgroup were 15.8 percentage-points more likely than never-accountable elementary schools to report moving students with disabilities from self-contained settings to regular classrooms over the previous five years. Middle schools accountable for the SWD subgroup were 16.7 percentage-points more likely than never-accountable middle schools to report moving students with disabilities from self-contained settings to regular classrooms over the previous five years.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
A final report, titled School Practices and Accountability for Students With Disabilities, was released in February 2015.
Other publications from this study are listed below.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
