Characteristics of High-Expenditure Students with Disabilities, 1999-2000. Report 8
Author: Chambers, Jay G.
Date: 2004-05-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Expenditure per Student,Ethnicity,Educational Needs,Construct Validity,Validity,Disabilities,School Districts,Student Characteristics,Educational Legislation,Federal Legislation,Disability Identification,Special Education,Models,Special Needs Students,Mathematics Achievement,Reading Achievement,Gender Differences,Class Size

Under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), school districts are  required to meet the educational needs of all students with disabilities. However, school  districts struggle to provide adequate services to students with disabilities who have  extraordinary needs and require unusually high expenditures to meet those needs. In response to concerns about the expenditures required to serve these students, the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education recommended that the IDEA include models for funding the costs of high-need children and allow state and local education agencies to proactively prepare for unanticipated fiscal obligations associated with the provision of special education (U.S. Department of Education, 2002a). The purpose of this report is to identify those students with disabilities on whom school districts are spending the most money, and to find out who these students are and how they differ from other students with disabilities. Specifically, the aim of the report is to provide a descriptive analysis of the magnitude of variations in per pupil expenditures to educate students with disabilities across all school districts in the nation, and to explore the characteristics of those students at the top of the expenditure distribution. This information will enhance individuals' understanding of children with exceptionally high expenditures and assist educational leaders in determining how best to address the service needs of these students. The descriptive analysis presented here focuses on different significant points along the distribution of expenditures on children with disabilities and looks at the characteristics of these children with respect to: (1) demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, ethnicity); (2) primary category of disability; (3) functional abilities; (4) grade level performance in reading and math; (5) types of instructional services; and (6) class sizes and caseloads in which they are served. This report focuses on kindergarten through twelfth-grade students. Preschool students, students enrolled in vocational schools and juvenile justice schools, and students served outside of their local school districts in non-public schools or other public agencies are not included due to insufficient sample size. Appended are: (1) Per Pupil Total Educational Expenditures and Special Education Expenditures, by School Type; (2) Distribution of Students with Average and High Expenditures Gender, Ethnicity and School Type; (3) Primary Disability Category, by School Type; (4) ABILITIES Index Average Scores, by School Type; (5) Gap Between Grade Level and Performance in Reading and Math, by School Type; (6) Hours Per Week of Instructional Services Provided To Students with Disabilities, by School Type; (7) Class and Group Size of Instructional Services; (8) ABILITIES Index Form; and (9) The ABILITIES Index: Psychometric Properties and Construct Validity. (Contains 19 exhibits and 17 footnotes.)