| The Research Alliance for New York City Schools |
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New Spotlight: What percentage of NYC’s students with disabilities are served in inclusive settings? Exploring equity and changes over time.Forty-three years ago this week, a new federal law guaranteed for the first time that all U.S. children with disabilities had the right to a free and appropriate public education. Subsequent legislation explicitly mandated that students with disabilities be served in the “least restrictive” educational environment—meaning they would have the opportunity to participate in general education settings and learn alongside non-disabled peers for as much of the day as possible.
In our new Spotlight post, we examine the extent to which New York City’s students with disabilities are being served in inclusive settings. |
| Figure 1: The percent of students with disabilities who are in inclusive settings for 80 percent or more of the school day has increased steadily.
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| | We find that, in recent years, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of students who spend the majority of their school day in a general education setting. Yet, we also find substantial differences in placement associated with students’ background characteristics, neighborhood and disability type. For example, boys, Black and Latino students, and students from low-income neighborhoods are all disproportionately served in non-inclusive, special classrooms.
This post and our preceding Spotlight post serve as precursors to a larger forthcoming report, set to be released in early 2019. This report will present a more detailed description of the special education landscape, as well as findings from an analysis exploring whether students with disabilities have better outcomes when they are served in inclusive settings. |
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The Research Alliance for New York City Schools is a nonpartisan research center housed at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. The Research Alliance conducts rigorous studies on topics that matter to the city’s public schools. The organization strives to advance equity and excellence in education by providing evidence about policies and practices that promote students' development and academic success.
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