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Special Education Substantially Improves Learning: Evidence from Three States
Special education serves more than one in seven U.S. students, yet its causal impact remains understudied. In this paper, we estimate the effect of individualized supports with an event-study design that tracks achievement around initial classification. The research shows students’ scores decline prior to placement and rise sharply afterward. Overall, individualized supports substantially increase learning productivity.
Service Delivery Models: Impacts for Students With and Without Disabilities
This research study offers some of the field’s first causal evidence of how different service delivery models impact student achievement and behavior.
Understanding Special Education Services at Scale Using IEP Data
Indiana requires schools to submit student Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) into a centralized database, making it possible to analyze IEPs on a statewide scale and uncover novel insights about their content. Using rigorous quantitative methods, WEPC researchers are identifying patterns related to IEP goals, services, placements, and more.
Examining the Supply of New Special Educators
Special education teacher shortages have been a consistent problem around the U.S. for decades and have only grown since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, reports of declining interest in special education among prospective teachers are especially concerning. The authors of this study examined the supply of new special education teachers into the workforce and the institutions that are supplying them, shedding light on the increasingly prominent role of for-profit alternative certification programs in the preparation of special education teachers.
Using Classroom Observations in the Evaluation of Special Education Teachers
Researchers find that Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching is limited in assessing the quality of instructional practices most valued in special education.
The Effect of Charter Schooling on Student Mobility and Classification Status
Authors analyzed students' school preference, mobility, and classification changes in charter & traditional public schools in Newark, New Jersey.
Are Two Teachers Better than One? The Effect of Co-Teaching on Students with and without Disabilities
Using longitudinal data for students and teachers in Massachusetts, researchers estimated the effect of co-teaching within a large public school system.