Research Alliance analyses highlight notable differences in the likelihood of having an IEP—and the specific types of disabilities that students are diagnosed with—based on race/ethnicity, gender, and neighborhood. Do you see these kinds of disparities in your school? What factors do you believe are driving differences in special education status? In recent years, there have been important increases in the percentage of NYC students with disabilities who are served in inclusive classroom settings, where they can learn alongside their general education peers. Yet students who live in low-income parts of the City are still considerably less likely to be served in inclusive settings, compared to peers from middle- and higher-income neighborhoods. What is your school doing to improve access to inclusive classroom settings? For your practice: What kinds of resources are available to teachers (both general and special education) to support the inclusion of students with disabilities in your school? What resources have been especially helpful in your work with students with disabilities? What additional support would be helpful as you work to best serve the needs of students with disabilities in your own classroom, school, or district?
| What did you know about IEPs and different types of disabilities before reading this Spotlight post? The post highlights differences in the likelihood of having an IEP—and the specific types of disabilities that students are diagnosed with—linked to students' race/ethnicity, gender, and neighborhood. What school practices might be contributing to these differences? Have you ever received additional support or resources in school related to having an IEP? Did you have a positive experience with the support provided to you? What additional supports may have been helpful? How can schools do a better job of fully including students with disabilities in all school activities (inside and outside of classrooms)?
| Questions for Policymakers and Advocates: Our analysis found that students who live in low-income neighborhoods have lower rates of autism, but higher rates of learning disabilities, emotional disturbance and speech or language impairments, compared with students who live in wealthier parts of the City. What factors might be contributing to these disparities? How could the resources available to students and families in low-income neighborhoods affect the identification of disabilities and the provision of services? Black students in NYC are twice as likely as any other group to have an IEP for "emotional disturbance." What may be the reason for these high rates (e.g., bias on the part of the evaluators or the criteria used to make the assessment, trauma resulting from systemic racism, higher rates of poverty, etc.)? What can be done to address these root causes? What programs have been implemented in schools and communities to better support students with less prevalent IEP classifications (e.g., the 7% of students with disabilities who have an IEP for autism, the 6% who have an IEP for emotional disturbance, the 3% who have an IEP for intellectual disabilities)? What promising models warrant more research and potentially expansion?
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