The Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in School Accountability Systems

Jenifer Harr-Robins, Mengli Song, Steven Hurlburt, Cheryl Pruce, Louis Danielson,

A new report offers information on the inclusion of students with disabilities in school accountability systems under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in School Accountability Systems is an interim report for the School Accountability Status and Outcomes for Students with Disabilities study conducted for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.

chart showing data on accountability for students with disabilities. Contact author for accessible version.
Exhibit restricted to schools that:
(1) have an accountability designation (e.g., “yes, met the target”, “no, missed the target”, “not applicable”) for AYP targets for math and reading proficiency for the SWD subgroup in 2008-09
(2) have data on the number of SWDs tested in mathematics and/or reading for 2008-09
(3) have school level for 2008-09 (restriction not applied to ‘all schools’ category

Key findings from the study include the following:

Examining 40 states with relevant data, 35 percent of public schools were accountable for the performance of students with disabilities in the 2008–09 school year, representing 58 percent of tested students with disabilities in those states. A total of 62 percent of middle schools were accountable for students with disabilities performance, while 31 percent of elementary schools and 23 percent of high schools were accountable.
In 20 states with relevant data for all four years, the percent of students with disabilities-accountable schools went from 25 percent in the 2005–06 school year to 34 percent in 2008–09.
In 32 states with relevant data, 55 percent of public schools were not accountable for the performance of the students with disabilities subgroup in any of the four years examined, while 18 percent were accountable in each of the four years.
In 37 states with relevant data, five percent of all public schools missed Annual Yearly Progress in the 2008–09 school year solely because of the performance of students with disabilities.
Among schools in 27 states that were consistently accountable for the performance of the students with disabilities during a four-year period, 56 percent were not identified for school improvement. By comparison, among schools that were not accountable for students with disabilities performance in any of the four years, 76 percent were never identified for school improvement.

The study is based on data from EDFacts, a U.S. Department of Education initiative to collect and place K–12 performance data at the center of policy, management, and budget decisions.