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Students with disabilities
The Role of School Context in Explaining Racial Disproportionality in Special Education
Topics: Student LearningThere has been an explosion of research on racial disproportionality in special education. Some recent research shifts the focus from the role of student characteristics alone to inquire whether school context moderates findings (e.g., is a Black student less likely than a White student to… more →
The Academic Effects of Moving to Middle School on Students with Disabilities Relative to their General Education Peers
Topics: Student LearningMiddle school transitions are increasingly required, despite documented negative effects on general education students (GENs). We explore if and how the move to middle school differentially affects students with disabilities (SWDs), a large and low-performing group of students. Using an… more →
Unequal & Increasingly Unfair: How Federal Policy Creates Disparities in Special Education Funding
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceTags: Students with disabilities, EquityThe formula used to allocate federal funding for state and local special education programs is one of the Individual with Disabilities Act’s most critical components. The formula not only serves as the primary mechanism for dividing available federal dollars among states, it also represents… more →
Desegregated but still separated? The impact of school integration on student suspensions and special education classification
Topics: Student Well-BeingIn this paper I study the impact of court-mandated school desegregation by race on student suspensions and special education classification. Simple descriptive statistics using student enrollment and outcome data collected from the largest school districts across the country in the 1970s and… more →
Understanding Differential Growth During School Years and Summers for Students in Special Education
Topics: Student LearningUnder the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, schools are required to provide a free and appropriate public education to students with disabilities and show that the students are making academic progress. This study compares within- and across-years academic growth from kindergarten to… more →
Direct and Spillover Effects of Limiting Minority Student Access to Special Education
Topics: Student LearningTags: Students with disabilities, EquityBlack students are about 1.5 times more likely to be receiving special education (SpEd) services relative to white students. While there is concern that this implies some black students are inappropriately placed in SpEd, the impacts of the disproportionate representation of minority students in… more →
Informing school-choosing families about their options: A field experiment from New Orleans
Topics: School ChoiceIn order for school choice reforms to fulfill their potential, school choosers must be informed about their options. We conducted a randomized controlled trial during the school choice application period in New Orleans to assess the effects of providing information to parents. Families with… more →
Dual Identification? The Effects of EL Status on SPED Placement in an Equity-Focused District
Topics: Student LearningThis study examines the effects of English Learner (EL) status on subsequent Special Education (SPED) placement. Through a research-practice partnership, we link student demographic data and initial English proficiency assessment data across seven cohorts of test takers and observe EL and SPED… more →
Over Diagnosed or Over Looked? The Effect of Age at Time of School Entry On Students Receiving Special Education Services
Much of the literature estimating disproportionality in special education identification rates has focused on socioeconomic status, race, and gender. However, recent evidence suggests that a student’s school starting age also impacts the likelihood they receive special education services,… more →
The Long-Run Impacts of Special Education
Topics: Student LearningOver 13 percent of US students participate in Special Education (SE) programs annually, at a cost of $40 billion. However, the effect of SE placements remains unclear. This paper uses administrative data from Texas to examine the long-run effect of reducing SE access. Our research design… more →
Forced to Redshirt: Quasi-Experimental Impacts of Delayed Kindergarten Entry
We provide causal estimates of the effects of delayed kindergarten entry on achievement outcomes by exploiting a policy change in the birthdate enrollment cutoff in North Carolina that forced children born in a six-week window to redshirt. Using multiple peer group comparisons, we identify… more →
The Impact of Targeted vs. General Education Investments: Evidence from Special Education and English Language Learners in Boston Charter Schools
Topics: Student LearningUsing novel variation in special education and English Language Learner classification from admissions lotteries, I find that students can achieve large academic gains without specialized services. Enrolling in a Boston charter school doubles the likelihood that students lose their special… more →
The Effects of Special Education on the Academic Performance of Students with Learning Disabilities
Topics: Student LearningIn the forty plus years since passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), special education has grown in the number of students and amount spent on services. Despite this growth, the academic performance of students with disabilities (SWDs) remains troubling low… more →
Do Health Insurance Mandates Spillover to Education? Evidence from Michigan’s Autism Insurance Mandate
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceSocial programs and mandates are usually studied in isolation even though they often interact closely with each other. Given the immense recent changes to health insurance systems, there is much potential for spillover effects to other systems in which health plays a large role. In this study,… more →