Who is Placed in Special Education? Assessing the Longitudinal Profiles, Academic Achievement, and Behavioral Adjustment of Students At-Risk for Special Education Identification.

Abstract

This dissertation is comprised of three studies using restricted data from the ECLS-K:1998 to address the questions who is placed in special education? and what happens after they are placed? Though these questions have been extensively studied, existing research has largely ignored the intersection of longitudinal developmental pathways and service delivery. In Study 1 ("Examining Longitudinal Patterns of K-8 Special Education Service Receipt") special educational trajectories from Kindergarten through grade 8 were analyzed using latent class growth modeling. Relative to students who never receive services, students with disabilities fell into three trajectories: Persistent (students received uninterrupted services from Kindergarten through 8th grade), Terminal (students received services for the first few years of schooling, then exited out of special education), and Delayed (students were not placed in special education until partway through schooling). Multinomial logistic regression revealed that different combinations of child, home, and schooling factors predicted the odds of following these trajectories of special education, which bears consideration in cross-sectional identification research.

Study 2 ("Contextualizing Patterns of Special Education Placement and Service Receipt") explored how individual likelihoods of receiving special education services were impacted by 1) the contributions of individual and aggregated data, 2) modeling longitudinal trajectories from Kindergarten through eighth grade, and 3) analyzing how the schooling context differentially influences students from varying backgrounds and with different levels of achievement or behavior. Results revealed that individual-level data was most predictive of service receipt, though between a quarter and a third of the variability in special education status occurred between schools; different factors predicted the likelihood of receiving services early in schooling relative to later in schooling; and that the schooling context did not appear to differentially affect the longitudinal likelihood of service receipt by race/ethnicity, achievement, or behavior. This study is important for researchers and policymakers focused on the early identification of disability and early identification disparities.

Lastly, Study 3 ("What Happens to Students in Special Education? Academic Achievement and Behavioral Adjustment Following Identification") assessed the development of reading, math, problem behaviors, and positive learning habits among students receiving earlier or later services. Though advocates argue that early intervention is the best solution to alleviate academic or behavioral issues, evidence toward the effectiveness of special education as an intervention is meager and mixed. In this study, the propensity to receive services in either 1st grade or 3rd grade was modeled by matching students who received services at least once during grades 1-8 on a host of Kindergarten covariates. Results indicated that students who received initial services in 1st grade made larger reading gains and scored higher tests of reading than students who received services later in schooling. In contrast, students who received initial services in 3rd grade did not significantly differ from their peers on any academic outcomes.

Overall, this dissertation weaves together a coherent story regarding who receives special education services, at what developmental timepoints, and where, as well as what are the consequences of receiving services at different timepoints during K-8 schooling. Addressing developmental trajectories of service receipt also extended and validated existing research by clarifying previous inconsistencies and oversimplifications. Educators and policymakers should continue advocating for early services, and researchers should strive to understand why delayed service receipt occurs, particularly among urban students with less-educated mothers.