Success in Education

Education > Special Education Students

SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS, ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA

Special Ed Pupils
 
SACS
NACS
FWCS
EACS
TOTAL
00-01 726 426 5,260 1,351 7,763
01-02 791 510 5,512 1,401 8,214
02-03 871 556 5,606 1,460 8,493
03-04 952 649 5,779 1,473 8,853
04-05 969 715 5,972 1,525 9,181
05-06 972 761 6,216 1,541 9,490
06-07 1,026 752 6,079 1,486 9,343
07-08 990 755 6,298 1,3546 9,397
As a Percent of Total Enrollment:
 
SACS
NACS
FWCS
EACS
TOTAL
00-01 12.6% 9.3% 16.5% 14.1% 15.0%
01-02 13.5% 10.6% 17.2% 14.5% 15.7%
02-03 14.5% 11.1% 17.5% 15.0% 16.1%
03-04 15.5% 12.4% 18.2% 14.8% 16.7%
04-05 15.4% 12.8% 19.0% 15.1% 17.2%
05-06 15.2% 13.0% 19.7% 14.9% 17.5%
06-07 15.5% 12.5% 19.1% 14.5% 17.1%
07-08 14.6% 12.1% 20.0% 13.3% 17.2%

Special Education Services provide a resource for improving long-term outcomes for children with special needs. In Indiana, the State Improvement Plan (SIP), an effort to improve educational services and outcomes for students with disabilities, states that students who have routinely been labeled as low achievers or disabled are capable of achieving much higher levels of academic success than was anticipated. There are some hurdles to overcome, as evidenced by the drop-out rate and the graduation rate. The SIP document reported a 20 percent dropout rate for students with disabilities, and that only 30 percent of students with disabilities exiting special services earn a diploma.

Disability categories include autism, deaf, blind, developmental delays, disabilities such as communication, emotional, mental, learning, and impairments such as hearing, orthopedic, visual, traumatic brain injury, and other health impairments.

Indiana's special education rules are known as "Article 7" (from In. Administrative Code 511IAC Article 7) which is based on the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA mandates that local school districts identify and provide multidisciplinary evaluations for students whom they have reason to believe are students with disabilities. Article 7 requires that each student with a disability between the ages of 3 and 22, enrolled in a public school, be provided with a free appropriate public education (FAPE). FAPE means that special education and related services (such as physical therapy, counseling, transportation) be provided at no cost to the parent. An Individualized Education Plan (IEP) lays out goals and specific steps for achieving those goals, and these are reviewed with the student, parents, general classroom teacher, and school administrator.

Special Education has increased both in numbers and as a percent of enrollment steadily since the early 1990s. Approximately two-thirds of the increase in special education enrollment has been in "lower incidence disabilities" such as health impairments, emotional disturbance, and learning disabled. There have been studies debating whether advanced technology, which has both made life possible for low-weight birth babies who might otherwise had died but also improved life to those who would have been physically disabled, or increases in the ability to diagnose learning or emotionally disabled children have been a major factor in the number of children in special education, or if other factors are involved. Regardless of what is driving the increase, the SIP suggests that as part of a comprehensive plan to improve student's success, that a number of interrelated indicators be marked for improvement: number of pregnant women who receive prenatal care in the first trimester; low-weight births, children in poverty, teen birthrate, and immunization rates. In addition to these health related issues, there are parental and child care issues, as well as many of the indicators in this Success by 6 baseline report should be marked for improvement in order to improve outcomes for all students.