Massachusetts Students with Disabilities in Out-of-District Programs: Preliminary Findings

Massachusetts Students with Disabilities in Out-of-District Programs: Preliminary Findings

Todd Grindal Abt Associates

School Mental Health: Treating Students K - 12 February 1, 2014

Research work conducted in collaboration with Dr. Thomas Hehir,., Monica Ng, Laura Schifter, Hadas Eidelman, & Dr. Shaun Dougherty

Primary Research Questions

Question 1: What are the student and district-level characteristics associated with placement in out-of-district programs?

Question 2: What are the processes and pathways through which students with disabilities are referred to and placed in out-of-district programs?

Question 3: What are the implications of enrolling students in out-of-district programs?

Massachusetts’s students with disabilities, on average, outperform students with disabilities across the country on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Massachusetts’s students with disabilities are educated in classrooms with their typically developing peers at similar (slightly higher) rates as students with disabilities across the country.

Massachusetts’s students are identified as eligible for special education vary substantially by category. In some categories MA students are identified at the same rate as students across the country and in other categories MA students are identified at rates higher than other U.S students

Special Education in Massachusetts

Displaying rates of disability identification in specific categories in MA and the U.S

Sources: MA DOE, 2011; IDEA 2010 Percentage of all Students in U.S. vs. Massachusetts

0.0% 1.0% 2.0% 3.0% 4.0% 5.0% 6.0%

Specific Learning Disabil ity

Health

Communication

Development Delay

Emotional

Autism

Intellectual

Multiple Disabil ities

Neurological

Physical

Sensory/Deaf blind

Sensory/Hard of Hearing

Sensory/Vision Impairment

U.S.

Massachusetts

4

Instructional settings for students with disabilities in 2012 (n=198,875)

Total Number of Students with

Disabilities

Percentage of Students with Disabilities

Traditional public school 177,417 89.21%

Charter school 4,867 2.45%

Private special education school 6,635 3.34%

Private non-special education school 1,107 0.56%

Collaborative program 5,039 2.53%

Home-schooled (Related services only) 1,396 0.70%

Early intervention/preschool 1,779 0.18%

Institutional (SEIS program) 240 0.12%

Out of state 304 0.15%

Correctional facilities 91 0.05%


Disabilities












Students for whom their local school district supported all or some of their tuition, transportation, or other special education associated costs. For more information on approved private special education schools see http://maaps.org/.


http://maaps.org/


Disabilities












Public regional inter-district partnerships that provide direct services for students with disabilities, transportation, and support for special education professionals.For more information on collaborative programs see http://moecnet.org/


http://moecnet.org/

http://moecnet.org/

Rates of out-placement have remained stable over time, but the characteristics of

students who use these programs are changing.

Finding 1a:

01,

000

2,00

03,

000

4,00

05,

000

Num

ber o

f stu

dent

s ou

t-pl

aced

2006 2010 20122007 20082008 20112009

Emotional disability Autism Learning disability

Multiple disabilities Vision or hearing impairment Intellectual disability

*Data on the following disability categories are not displayed: developmental delay, physical disabilities,other health impairment, neurological impairment, and communication.

Number of students in out-of-district placements by disability category and year

Percentage of students within each disability category in out-of-district placements, by year10

%20

%30

%40

%0%

Per

cent

age

of s

tude

nts

out-p

lace

d

2006 2008 2009 2010 2011 20122007

Emotional disability Autism Learning disability

Multiple disabilities Vision or hearing impairment Intellectual disability

*Data on the following disability categories are not displayed: developmental delay, physical disabilities,other health impairment, neurological impairment, and communication.

Number of children in private special education schools and collaborative programs by disability category and year

Low-income students enroll in private special education schools at substantially

lower rates than their non-low-income peers.

Finding 1b:

Low-income students enroll in private special education schools at substantially lower rates than their non-low-income peers

Non-low income students with emotional disabilities are approximately twice as likely to be

placed in private special education school than their similar low-income peers.

Low-income student

Disability category, grade, student race, student over-age for

grade, District percent low-income

Controls:

Odds Ratio = 1.9; p<0.001

Non-low income student

Towns vary widely in their use of out-of-district placements.

Finding 1c:

Town-level variation in the percentage of special education students enrolled in private special education schools (2012)

The majority of children move into out-of-district placements in late middle and

early high school.

Finding 2a:

Profiles for initial placement in private special education schools by grade

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4Fi

tted

prob

abilit

y of

enr

ollin

g in

a p

rivia

te s

choo

l

K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Grade

Emotional disabilities Autism Learning disabilities

Multiple disabilities Hearing or vision impairment

Special education directors cite safety as the main reason for referring students to

out-of-district programs.

Finding 2b:

• Distributed to 277 Directors of Special Education.• 239 Directors (86%) responded to at least one

question.• 221 Directors (79%) completed the survey.

Table of respondents by district size.

Number of Students in District Number of respondents

Percent of all respondents

Less than 1,000 students 35 15.09%

Between 1,000 – 2,000 students 64 27.59%

Between 2,000 – 4,000 students 80 34.48%

More than 4,000 students 53 22.84%

Survey

Reason for OOD referral across all categories.Reason % of all respondents

Access to related services 3%

Academic difficulty 21%

Problems with peers 23%

Inappropriate school behavior

46%

Social Emotional issues 60%

Survey Results

This pattern differs slightly by student disability type

• “This student physically harmed one of our staff members (broke ribs) when attempting to physically attack another student.”

• “She engaged in self harm, tantrums, acting out, disrupting others, and did not show any remorse/ or willingness to be learn appropriate coping strategies. The student has a history of cutting at home, bringing this to school… Safety is the concern. We could not guarantee her physical safety in the larger school environment.”

Quotes from Special Ed. Directors

The outplacement process for children with emotional, developmental and

learning disabilities is less contentious than placements for other types of

disabilities.

Finding 2c:

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

65%

16%13%

The district lawyer was somewhat or deeply involved

47%

24% 26%

A parent or advocate first suggested the out-of-district placement

64%

39% 36%

Special education di-rector believed that child's needs could have been met in-

district

Learning Disability

Emotional Dis-turbance

Autism

“Students placed at private 766 schools to address specific learning disabilities is a disservice to students. The curriculum is not rigorous, students are removed from

their community and in reality, leave these schools with skills far more deficient

than when they left the district.”

Special education director commenting on private placements of children with learning disabilities

“Student was receiving services in substantially separate program with all available district resources in place. The students behaviors continued to escalate and was unsafe despite the efforts of all

district service providers, outside consultants, and parent collaboration. “

Special education director commenting on private placements of children with emotional/behavioral disabilities

Relatively few out-placed students ever return to an in-district placement.

Finding 3a:

17.8

Private Schools

25.4

Collaboratives

The percentage of out-placed students who ever return to an in-district program

17.8 % of students placed in private schools ever return to an in-district

program

25.4 % of students placed in collaboratives ever return to an in-district

program

Students who enroll in out-of-district

settings, on average, do not experience greater or lesser gains in reading or

mathematics MCAS scores when compared to similar students who were not outplaced. Enrollment in an out-of-

district program is associated with greater increases in student attendance.

Finding 3b:

Districts that place a larger percentage of special education students in private

schools, on average, receive a significantly larger per-pupil reimbursement from the

circuit breaker.

Finding 3c:

Estimated Per Pupil Reimbursement from the Circuit Breaker (2012)

Recommendations1. Improve General Education Approaches to Discipline

and Behavior2. Promote Inclusion and Universal Design for Learning3. Improve High School Options for Students with

Disabilities4. Provide Low-income Parents Access to Meaningful

Advocacy Support.5. Create Opportunities for Private Schools and Public

Schools to Collaborate to Help Support Students in a More Fluid Manner

6. Restructure the Circuit Breaker to Directly Support the Expenses Related to Children with Complex Needs

Thank you!

Please contact Todd Grindal with further questions or comments.

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Massachusetts Students with Disabilities in Out-of-District Programs: Preliminary Findings

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