The Characteristics of Non-Proficiency Special Education and Non-Special Education Students on Large-Scale Assessments

• In Event: Determining Academic Profiles and Characteristics of At-Risk Learners

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to explore whether the demographic characteristics of persistently non-proficient (PNP) special education students are different from the characteristics of PLP students not in special education, and whether low performing special education students in the first year are more, or less, likely to move out of the low performing group than non-special education students. The results show that the demographic characteristics of PNP students were similar for students in special education and students not in special education. In addition, special education students identified as non-proficient in the first year of our data set were more likely than their non- proficient non-special education peers to be PNP on state reading and mathematics assessments.

Authors

• Yi-Chen Wu, National Center on Educational Outcomes

• Kristin K. Liu, National Center on Educational Outcomes

• Martha L. Thurlow, University of Minnesota

• Sheryl S. Lazarus, University of Minnesota