Measuring NAEP Inclusion Rates of Students With Disabilities

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The report Measuring Status and Change In NAEP Inclusion Rates of Students With Disabilities, Results 2007-09 has been released. This report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) contains the findings of a study on the status of inclusion and changes in inclusion rates for the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 4th- and 8th-grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and mathematics assessments.

The decision about whether a student with disabilities is included in NAEP is made by the school personnel most knowledgeable about the student. The percentage of students with disabilities who are not English Language Learners and who are assessed in NAEP varies across years within a grade and varies between grades.

To compare the inclusion rates, regression analyses were used to estimate the relationship between characteristics of a student with disabilities (SD) and the probability that the student is included in the NAEP assessments. Using these probabilities, states’ inclusion rates of SDs in 2005, 2007, and 2009 NAEP assessments were compared. In addition, the states’ expected inclusion rates for each year, predicted by the regression model, were compared to the actual inclusion rates to provide the status of inclusion rates as starting points or context for interpreting the changes.

Findings include:

• Most states showed no change in inclusiveness between 2007 and 2009 at either grade or in either subject.
• In mathematics, there was no change in inclusiveness for 40 jurisdictions at grade 4 and 34 jurisdictions at grade 8.
• In reading, there was no change in inclusiveness for 36 jurisdictions at grade 4 and 35 jurisdictions at grade 8.
• Among the states that did show change in inclusiveness between 2007 and 2009, the majority increased inclusiveness:
• In mathematics, 10 out of 11 jurisdictions at grade 4 increased inclusiveness, and 16 out of 17 jurisdictions increased inclusiveness at grade 8.
• In reading, 13 out of 15 jurisdictions increased inclusiveness at grade 4, and 16 out of 16 jurisdictions increased inclusiveness at grade 8.
• No state showed a decrease in inclusiveness for both grades and both subjects in all the comparison years.

Additional resources for understanding the inclusion of students with disabilities in NAEP assessments, including frequently asked questions, details about the methodology used in this study, and copies of past reports, are available at
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/studies/inclusion/

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