Context Matters: Effects of School-Level Factors on the Reading Trajectories of Students With Disabilities

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 5:25 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Innovative Literacy Instruction for Disabled Students (Table 2)

Abstract

This study investigated the reading growth rates among students with disabilities during their first two years of formal schooling in the context of school-level and student-level factors. Part of a larger research-practice partnership, this critical quantitative analysis is oriented toward understanding the heterogeneous strengths and needs of students with disabilities in the district. To do so, this investigation employed multilevel growth curve models to examine disparities in word reading trajectories among students with disabilities (n=433) enrolled in elementary schools (n=81) in a mid-size urban district in the United States. Findings indicate significant between-school differences in the reading trajectories of students with disabilities. Implications include the need for further study and awareness of contextual factors that inhibit or enable reading growth.

Authors

• Anne Murphy Karabell, American University

• Sarah Irvine Belson, American University