Project Activities
Research question
- How were state and district practices aligned with IDEA's goals of appropriately identifying children with disabilities?
Structured Abstract
Design
This implementation study is descriptive. Data collection included surveys of state administrators from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and territories receiving IDEA funding, as well as surveys of a nationally representative sample of 688 school districts and 2,750 schools about the 2019–20 school year.
Key findings
Key findings from the first report include:
- Most states and districts reported broad efforts to find children with suspected disabilities, as encouraged by IDEA, but with less emphasis on intensive approaches for younger children.
- Reported policies and practices for evaluating children with suspected disabilities—including use of specialized assessments, data on progress made when struggling students are given extra supports, or strategies to address potential cultural bias in the evaluation process—suggest that states and districts were trying to be sensitive to each child's needs and therefore more accurate in identification, but challenges with linguistically and culturally responsive evaluation remain.
- Despite federal efforts to encourage more consistent detection of large racial and ethnic disparities in special education identification, state differences in how disparities were defined may have limited detection in some cases.
Key findings will be updated when the next report is released.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
A report, titled Appropriate Identification of Children with Disabilities for IDEA Services: A Report from Recent National Estimates, was released in June 2024.
A supplemental volume, titled IDEA State and Local Implementation Study 2019: Compendium of Survey Results, was released in September 2023.
A restricted-use file containing de-identified data is available for the purposes of replicating study findings and conducting secondary analyses.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
