Inclusion or Segregation? Students With Extensive Support Needs and Intersecting Areas of Diversity in Utah

• In Event: Dismantling Educational Structures That Create Barriers for Students With Disabilities

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this research study was to identify disparities in access to general education contexts of students with extensive support needs (ESN) based on varying and intersecting areas of diversity (e.g., race, ethnicity) in Utah.
Perspective. Students ESN continue to be placed in segregated settings (Morningstar et al., 2017) despite over 40 years of research concluding that students have better outcomes when educated in general education contexts (e.g., Gee et al., 2020). Federal policy suggests that education team members must determine whether each student is able to receive an appropriate education in general education contexts, based on their individualized learning needs (IDEA, 2004). Data suggest, however, that educational placement decisions of students with ESN are not based on individualized learning needs; rather, researchers have found several areas of diversity that are associated with placement decisions, such as disability label (Kurth et al., 2014) and race and ethnicity (Connor et al., 2019). To drive systemic educational change towards inclusion in Utah, we must understand the intersecting areas of diversity that are associated with segregated placements of students with ESN.
Methods. Using data from approximately 6000 K-12+ students who take the alternate assessment in Utah, we used logistic regression with educational placement (general education, resource, self-contained classroom, separate school) as a dichotomous outcome variable and students’ areas of diversity (race, ethnicity, disability label, gender, economic disadvantage, multi-lingual status) as predictors. For each outcome variable (educational placement), the best model/combination of predictors (areas of diversity) was identified and the magnitude and direction of the relation between each predictor.
Data Sources. In collaboration with the Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC) we obtained student-level data from the Utah State Board of Education. All students who are eligible to take Utah’s alternate assessment in K-12+ during the Fall 2020/Spring 2021 school year were represented.
Results. Outcomes revealed discrepancies in educational placement of students with ESN across multiple intersecting areas of diversity. Results shed light on how current policies and practices are being implemented, such as placement decisions, and result in inequities in access to general education contexts.
Significance. For over 30 years there has been virtually no change in educational placements for students with ESN in the United States (Brock 2018). Smith (2007) explored state-level trends in educational placement for students with intellectual disabilities between 1992 and 2003 and found that Utah was the most segregated state during that time span. Utah remains among the states with the lowest percentage of students with intellectual disability included in general education contexts (U.S. DOE, 2021). Moreover, researchers have found that Black and Latinx students with ESN have decreased access to general education contexts compared to White students with ESN across multiple states, including California (Cosier et al., 2020) and New York (White et al., 2019). These disparities based on student diversity, however, have not yet been explored in Utah which remains highly segregated. This research will result in an understanding of specific and intersecting areas of diversity associated with segregated placements in which future policy in Utah may be considered.

Authors

• Kirsten Rebecca Lansey, University of Arizona
  Presenting Author

• Sojung Jung, University of Utah
  Presenting Author