Accountability of Nonpublic Special Education Facilities in Maryland and New Jersey: How Successful Is Transition?

• In Event: Poster Session 4
  In Poster Session: A Miscellany of Accountability Issues: Value-Added Model Assumptions, Special Education, Growth, and Racial/Ethnic Classifications

Abstract

Nonpublic special education facilities have been criticized for cost and lack of accountability. Students (N=294) with severe emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) were examined two years after exiting from nonpublic special education facilities (NPSEFs) in Maryland and New Jersey. Students from NPSEFs were compared to EBD youth served in public school who were followed in the National Longitudinal Transitional Study 2 (NLTS2), a national study funded by the U.S. Department of Education. NPSEF participants were contacted annually and interviewed by phone.
Experiences were more positive for NPSEF youth compared to the NLTS2 youth. NPSEF youth had greater levels of engagement, employment, enrollment in post-secondary education, and independent living as well as lower rates of involvement with the criminal justice system.

Authors

• Deborah T. Carran, Johns Hopkins University

• Millicent Kellner, Rutgers University - New Brunswick/Piscataway

• Sue Murray

• Christine Ramsey