Special Education Equity in the United States: What the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Taught Us

• In Event: Lessons from the Pandemic: International Perspectives Addressing Highlighted and Exacerbated Educational Inequalities

Abstract

Special education in the United States, born from civil rights legislation, is an educational system of both challenges and opportunities. Prior to the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) in 1975 (now known as IDEA), millions of children with disabilities were not being adequately served in public schools across the United States. Since 1975, special education has developed into a robust and complicated educational social system that aims to provide educational and behavioral support for students with disabilities in districts across the country.

While special education programs are now ubiquitous within public schools, there are significant equity issues that persist across districts. While many of these issues existed far before COVID-19, there may be evidence to suggest the pandemic adversely impacted existing structural inequities. Some of these inequities include: a lack of adequate educational, behavioral, and emotional support in online learning, unequal access to online school and the infrastructure and environment needed to engage in online settings, and the disproportionate representation of students of color in more restrictive and punitive special education settings.

Conversely, there have been potential positive impacts that virtual learning has exposed, specifically for students with disabilities. Some positive impacts that seem to have emerged include: more individualized attention and small group instruction for students, increased creativity and flexibility in designing online content making material more engaging and differentiated, greater student accountability given the close contact between parents/guardians and teachers, and improved attention and focus for some students given the online learning environment. While these impacts are not universal across every district, it is important to highlight and further investigate the potential areas of strength and growth that online learning provides.

These challenges and opportunities within special education, perhaps made more profound by the pandemic, need to be further investigated. It is vitally important to collect perspectives from across the country on the effects of the pandemic on special education programs and not only the persistent and novel issues of inequity, but also the opportunities that districts are currently experiencing. Perspectives specifically from district leaders will provide valuable insight and will enrich the conversation of what school districts need for this school year.

To address this gap in understanding, we are currently launching a national survey of over 100 school district leaders in over 20 states. We ask questions ranging from referral issues (e.g., “Over the last school year, did your district experience a decrease, increase, or the numbers stayed level in special education referrals for students in Pre-K and/or in Kindergarten?”) to questions around planning for the year (e.g., “What aspects of virtual learning will you take with you into this upcoming 2021-22 school year?”) This survey and analysis will provide needed data directly from school district leadership on the effects of the pandemic related to special education, and in doing so this research strives to uphold the core tenets of IDEA and the provision of equitable and fair special education programs for all students.

Authors

• Lauren I. Katzman, Arizona State University

• Kate Roberts, University of Wisconsin - Madison