Does Receiving an IEP Improve Attendance Outcomes?

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Wednesday 9:45am
  In Poster Session: Division L Section 6 Social Policy, Inequality, and Student Outcomes: Poster Session

Abstract

According to post-COIVD data, students with disabilities are absent from school at higher rates than their peers without disabilities. Given that SWDs already face barriers to academic achievement and educational attainment, heightened absenteeism risks compounding existing inequities. Our study seeks to add to the little research on attendance patterns for students with IEPs by using student, classroom, and teacher data from a large school district. We explored elementary school student attendance patterns by IEP status and teacher characteristics. We find that SWDs have fewer overall absences and are less likely to have excused absences than students without an IEP. These findings suggest that school-based support may encourage students to attend school and lead to missing less academic content.

Authors

• Samantha Kreda Peters, University of Pennsylvania

• Michael A. Gottfried, University of Pennsylvania