IncreasED: How Court Rulings Impact Special Education Identification

November 2024

Healthcare services outside of school impact the likelihood of receiving a school-based special education classification and services. Using Massachusetts administrative data on public school students, this paper employs difference-in-differences to examine the impacts of expanded Medicaid coverage for mental and behavioral healthcare brought by the Rosie D. lawsuit of 2009. Rosie D. caused a 0.3 percentage point (15 percent) increase in emotional disorder (ED) identification among low-income grades 9-12 students. After Rosie D., students with ED were more likely to be Black or multiracial. Students were also more likely to have experienced suspension or chronic absenteeism before ED identification. Finally, grades K-8 students with ED were educated in less inclusive settings.

Education level

K-12 Education

Topics

Student Well-Being and Mental Health