NCEO - Technical Report 50 - Trends in the Participation and Performance of Students with Disabilities

2010

This report marks the first comprehensive analysis conducted by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) of trends in the public reporting of state assessment results for students with disabilities. This study followed four analyses of public reporting conducted by NCEO since the passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Greater numbers of states than ever before are reporting assessment data for students with disabilities disaggregated by grade level and content area. At the same time, states have made improvements in their data collection systems that make this type of reporting possible. Unfortunately, the number of states for which data were available across the four years was relatively small. Based on the states with data across years, average percentages of students with disabilities performing at the proficient or above level showed moderate increases across the four years for both reading and math in elementary and middle schools. Performance data for high school students did not show the same gains. Trend data also showed lower percentages of high school and middle school students demonstrating proficient or above performance, as compared to elementary school students. This tendency was true for both reading and math. Continued investigations of not only trend data but also the data available for examining trends is an important step for evaluations of the changes in participation and performance of students with disabilities over time. Available online at: http://cehd.umn.edu/nceo/OnlinePubs/Tech50/default.htm

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