Family Income and Special Education Identification, Placement, and Performance

• In Event: 63.063 - Disability Studies in Education: Toward Justice Through Educational Reform and Practice in K–12 Schools

Abstract

In this paper, we examine differences in special education identification, placement, and performance between low-income and non-low-income students using multiple years of student-level data from an entire state.
This paper focuses on three key findings:
1. Low-income students are identified for special education services at substantially higher rates than non-low-income students.
2. Low-income students with disabilities are educated outside of the general education classroom at rates substantially higher than non-low-income students with disabilities.
3. Low-income students with disabilities who had full inclusion placements outperform similar students who were not included to the same extent in general education classrooms with their non-disabled peers.

We discuss the implications of these findings for policy and the practices of general and special education teachers.

Authors

• Todd Grindal, Abt Associates Inc.

• Thomas Hehir, Harvard University

• Laura A. Schifter, Self-employed

• Monica Ng, Harvard University

• Hadas Eidelman, Harvard University