Special Education Categorization Varies Across the Distribution of Student Family Income

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

Abstract

Currently 18% of U.S. K-12 students receive additional supports from the formal educational system through the identification of a disability. Utilizing unique data linking information on students and their family income, we show that there are pronounced differences in how students are categorized for special education across the income distribution, with a quarter of students in the lowest income percentile receiving services compared with less than 7% of those in the top income percentile. This pattern may in part reflect differences in underlying student need caused by poverty. However, we find the opposite pattern when looking at other disability-related accommodations, where students in the top percentile are more likely to receive them, suggesting that need alone cannot explain our results.

Authors

• Nicholas James Ainsworth, University of California - Irvine

• Christopher Cleveland, Brown University

• Leah Clark, U.S. Census Bureau

• Jacob Hibel, University of California - Davis

• Quentin Brummet, Michigan State University

• Andrew Saultz, Pacific University Oregon

• Emily K. Penner, University of California - Irvine

• Michelle Spiegel, Stanford University

• Paul Y. Yoo, University of California - Irvine

• Juan Camilo Cristancho, University of California - Irvine

• Paul Hanselman, University of California - Irvine

• Andrew Penner, University of California - Irvine