The Special Education Achievement Gap: A Brief Analysis of the States

Each year, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) administers the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to a statistically valid sample of elementary and secondary school students throughout the country. The NAEP is a paper and pencil test in math, reading, science, writing, and other subjects. It is administered to 4th, 8th and 12th grade students. From the NAEP results, the Department of Education publishes an annual Nation’s Report Card. Since 2009, NCES has separately tabulated results for students with disabilities. With this data, we can analyze the achievement gap on a state-by-state basis. Indeed, one of the purposes of special education is to close the achievement gap. So, by looking at the gap between the performance of all children and the performance of children with disabilities over time, we get some sense of the quality of special education in a state. Further, by looking at the present achievement gap, we get another sense of the quality of special education in each state. For purposes of this analysis, we combined four scores: 4th grade reading, 8th grade reading, 4th grade math, and 8th grade math. For 2015, the states ranked as follows:

Although the match-up is not exact, the rank of the states in scores for students with disabilities is largely the same. Massachusetts leads both lists and the District of Columbia is a pathetic last place in both tallies. The exceptions are Florida and Kentucky. Both states have robust voucher programs resulting in the private school placement of large numbers of children with disabilities. Because fewer special education children are in the public school system, the results may be skewed. In any case, here is the rank order of states in scores for students with disabilities:

As is clear from the charts above, students with disabilities lag approximately 16% behind all students in their NAEP scores. This is the achievement gap for students with disabilities. Here is the rank order of states in 2015 on the achievement gap, together with an indication of the percentage the gap represents of the scores of all students:

Again, we see the outliers of Florida and Kentucky showing the smallest achievement gap. Whether this is due to better quality of special education or due to the removal of large numbers of special education students to private schools is a question that would take more research. It is notable that the District of Columbia has an extremely high achievement gap, on top of the worst scores overall in the nation. One strong indicator of the quality of a State’s special education program might be the size of the reduction of the achievement gap over time. So, we looked at the same four tests in 2009 and 2005 to see the change over time. Remarkably, in only two states – Alabama and Hawaii – was the gap reduced over that period. Despite the improvement, Hawaii remained the state with the largest achievement gap in the nation. Overall, on average, the achievement gap increased by 21 points, or 2% over the past six years. The state rankings follow:

The conclusion is that the quality of special education in the United States has declined significantly over the past six years. Students with disabilities are being left behind in every state. Rather than seeking to close a yawning achievement gap, state officials seem content to let it increase, thereby frustrating the goal of the Individuals with Disabilities Act ‘to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment and independent living.” 20 U.S.C. 1400(d)(1)(A). Image credit: Alma760 via WikiMedia Commons