3 Ways Educators Can Close The Achievement Gap For Students With Disabilities
January 25, 2016
DESPITE RECORD HIGH GRADUATION RATES, A NEW REPORT REVEALS MORE THAN ONE CAUSE FOR CONCERN
In 2014 the nation reached a historic milestone, graduating more than 82 percent of its students — a more than 10 percent increase in graduation rates since the beginning of the millennium. While this unprecedented progress is certainly something to celebrate, a new report suggests that a closer look at the numbers may reveal some troubling trends beneath the surface.
For one, while 2014 marks the first time graduation rates have surpassed 82 percent, it is also the first time in 4 years that the rate has increased by less than a percentage point, indicating that the nation is no longer on track to meet its goal of 90 percent by 2020. More troubling, however, are the persistent disparities in graduation rates among minority, low-income, and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students, as well as those with disabilities (SWDs).
The report indicates that 17 states graduate less than 70 percent of their African American Students, 16 states graduate less than 70 percent of their low-income students, 35 states graduate less than 70 percent of their LEP students, and 33 states graduate less than 70 percent of their SWDs.
When it comes to SWDs, the disparities are alarming, especially considering that with the right supports, 9 out of 10 of students with disabilities are believed to be capable of graduating from high school.
The report notes that, “across the nation, students with disabilities graduate at a rate of nearly 20 points lower than the average graduation rate for all students, and the gaps in more than half of all states meet or exceed the national gap.” In Mississippi for instance, the graduation gap between SWDs and non-SWDs is more than 50%.
The national report card, released last fall, gave similar cause for concern, with reading and math test scores revealing achievement gaps of between 30 and 40 percent across the board.
WHAT IS THE NATION DOING?
While some advocates believe that SWDs will end up faring worse under ESSA as the federal government takes a step back and relinquishes controls to states, the new law does include several “guardrails” designed to protect SWDs.
For example, under ESSA, there is a new 1 percent cap on the number of students permitted to take alternate assessments–about 10 percent of students with disabilities, a percentage aligning with the number of students who are estimated to be able to graduate with the right supports in place (9 out of 10). With accountability and higher standards in place for a larger percentage of students with disabilities, the hope is that SWDs will achieve at a higher level.
Additionally, the law requires states to continue to report on the performance of SWDs on state tests to ensure visibility into how these students are performing persists.
Perhaps most significantly, the law requires that states develop plans on reducing harassment, restraint and seclusion, and suspensions, all of which disproportionately affect students with disabilities and have shown to significantly impact student achievement.
ESSA closely follows guidance released by the federal government in November, stating that all IEP goals should be aligned with grade-level standards, again an attempt to hold SWDs to higher standards in an effort to improve achievement.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
While the impact of ESSA on SWDs is yet to be seen, there are things we as educators can be doing in our classrooms, our schools, and our districts now to help close the achievement gap, and lead more students down the path to graduation.
- Raise Our Expectations
Recent research has shown that teacher expectations are an important predictor of student success, and can significantly impact graduation rates. Teacher expectations of 6th and 7th grade students, for instance, have been shown to have long term impacts on student achievement, affecting student performance into high school and predicting high school graduation. Knowing this, it is troubling to note that according to a MetLife survey, only 36 percent of teachers believe their students are capable of success.
Additional research has indicated that teachers not only tend to have lower expectations of minority and disadvantaged students, but also have implicit biases of which they are often unaware. And while this may seem disheartening, there is evidence to suggest that educators can become aware of their own biases, and change their expectations accordingly to positively affect student achievement.
At a leadership level, school leaders can have a tremendous impact on student achievement by focusing on creating positive school climates, where everyone, teachers and students, are expected to succeed, regardless of race, income level, or disability.
As educators, raising our expectations of SWDs is perhaps one of the simplest and most impactful ways we can work toward closing the achievement gap.
- Make Inclusion A Top Priority
According to IDEA, LRE is a legal right of every student. And while the nation has come a long way moving more students down the path to LRE, we still have a long road ahead of us. Mounting research shows that when SWDs are instructed alongside their general education peers, they perform better on standardized tests, are more likely to master IEP goals, demonstrate reduced challenging behaviors, and generally perform better academically. Furthermore, spending at least 80% of their instructional time in the general education classroom is shown to lead to notable gains for SWDs.
As educators it is our jobs to promote inclusion in whatever ways we can. Even educators working in self-contained classrooms can promote inclusion by doing things like fading supports for students over time, teaching students the social skills they will need to function in inclusive settings, and ensuring that every student has an inclusion goal written into their IEP.
School leaders can promote inclusion by doing things like creating awareness campaigns around disability, providing school-wide opportunities for special and general education to participate in events and activities together, and by keeping track of how much time students are spending in and outside of general education settings.
- Ensure IEP Goals Are Measurable And Standards-Aligned
Too often IEP goals are poorly written and are not aligned with academic standards. According to research conducted in 2010, IEP goals for students with autism do not typically meet the recommendations of IDEA, with measurability being one of the greatest areas of need. Furthermore, 2007 research suggests that educators find aligning IEP goals with academic standards difficult or even incomprehensible.
Measurable IEP goals that are aligned with academic standards allow educators to collect data on these goals and target areas of needs to ensure that students are on the path to graduation and are keeping up with their general education peers.
It is imperative that teacher preparation programs and school leaders provide special education teachers the training and professional development they need to to write IEP goals that will promote student success and have systems in place to track and report on this progress so they can intervene as necessary.
Closing the achievement gap between SWDs and their general education peers is the responsibility of all educators, and of the nation at large. Until the average graduation rates of SWDs match of those of non-SWDs, we should hold off celebrating. Instead we should focus our energy on achieving the more challenging but rewarding goal of seeing all students succeed, regardless of race, income, disability.