The impact of students with special education needs in the general education setting on Missouri's State Assessment

Schools and educators have been increasingly educating students with disabilities in the general education setting; while at the same time the level of accountability for making a positive outcome on high stakes assessments for all students has increased. As educators feel pressure for their students to perform well on state assessments and meet the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmark, there will be questions around which settings are most effective in meeting the academic needs of students with disabilities. With the trend in Missouri towards a greater level of participation in the general education setting for students with disabilities, this study has added to the understanding of the relationship between the setting and the impact on high stakes state assessments. This study began with utilizing the data from 1250 elementary schools from all 524 districts in the state of Missouri over a three-year period (i.e. 2008, 2009, and 2010). Data for this study were obtained from Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) from three different sources of public information: Missouri State Performance Plan (SPP) data, School Accountability Report Card data, and the Annual Performance Report (APR). This study examined the impact of the percentage of time students with IEPs participated in the general education setting had on the Missouri’s Assessment Program’s (MAP) Communication Art and Mathematics assessments for student with and without disabilities. The study considered the influence of other factors reported to have an impact on student achievement such as student to classroom teacher ratio, a district’s expenditures per ADA, the percentage of FRL, and the ratio of students identified with disabilities within each school. Impact of Setting on MAP 4 A Pearson correlation was used to determine the stepwise order for the covariates. A stepwise multiple linear regression was then used to determine the statistical significance of the independent variables and covariates for each of the three years of this study (2008, 2009, and 2010). Finally, a one-way ANOVA was utilized to analyze the differences between the means on the dependent variable. The results of the study showed the time students with disabilities spent in the general education setting had a statistically significant impact on the MAP assessment results. However, the overall impact is quite small in a practical sense. Additionally, there was evidence within this study that the covariates were highly correlated to the setting variable and had a larger impact on the MAP results. This study also showed the time students with disabilities spend in general education does not have a negative impact for students with or without disabilities in regards to the MAP assessment. When schools had high levels of participation with high amounts of time spent in general education, the schools had increased scores on both the Communication Arts and the Mathematics assessment for both students with and without disabilities. Impact of Setting on MAP 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I . 8 INTRODUCTION . 8 Trends . 10 Assessment . 13 Purpose of the Study . 14 Research Questions . 15 Delimitations . 16 Definition of Terms . 17 Significance of the Study . 18 CHAPTER II . 19 LITERATURE REVIEW . 19 Civil Cases and Legislation . 21 Students with Disabilities . 25 Students without Disabilities . 28 School Level: Students with Disabilities . 30 School Level: Students without Disabilities . 31 District Level: Students with and without Disabilities . 32 Mixed Results . 33 Impact of Setting on MAP 6 Impact on a National Assessment . 34 Legislation . 37 Covariates . 40 Summary . 41 CHAPTER III . 43 METHODOLOGY . 43 Overview . 43 Research Questions . 44 Data Sources . 45 Population . 49 Data Analysis . 51 Summary . 54 CHAPTER IV . 55 RESULTS . 55 Overview . 55 Descriptive Statistics . 56 Results: Research Question 1 . 66 Summary: Research Question 1 . 72 Results: Research Question 2 . 74 Summary: Research Question 2 . 80 Impact of Setting on MAP 7 Descriptive Statistics . 82 Results: Research Question 3 . 86 Summary: Research Question 3 . 95 Summary . 97 CHAPTER V . 99 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION . 99 Overview . 99 Statement of the Problem and Research Questions . 99 Findings . 100 Summary . 104 Implications . 105 Future Research . 106 Conclusion . 107 REFERENCES . 108 APPENDIX A . 115 TABLES . 115 Impact of Setting on MAP 8 CHAPTER