I EPs are considered the main drivers in special education and the mechanism through which these students receive their education to m...
In this study, published recently in the journal Educational
Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Laura Bray, assistant professor of education,
explored how educators wrote, used and conceptualized the role of IEPs for
students with specific learning disabilities within inclusive general education
settings. "IEPs are supposed to be standards-based and tailored to the
student's needs," Bray said. "We wanted to understand how teachers
draw from IEPs and utilize them in their teaching."
The researchers found that IEPs are largely aligned to the
general education curriculum and not individualized. "We found that
students' IEPs were responding to institutional pressures to educate students
within these settings," said Bray. "However, the content of the
students' IEPs offered limited guidance on providing students with special
education supports and services. That being said, the IEPs still played
distinctive roles in each school's unique activity system for educating
students within inclusive classrooms."
To come to this conclusion, the researchers examined data
from a qualitative comparative case study that explored two secondary schools
organized for the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education
classrooms. "We looked at how IEPs were written to respond to
institutional pressures to provide them a general education, how the IEPs
responded to their individual education needs, other types of activities the
educators would engage in to determine needs, and how IEP activities were being
implemented and monitored at the schools," Bray explained.
The researchers chose two high schools in two different
school districts, focusing on five students that were in 10th or 11th grade,
who were identified with a specific learning disability and required
modifications and accommodations in their classrooms.
Bray found that in one school, IEPs were being used as sort
of a "triage" to help the students pass their courses, which is not
the intent of IEPs. In the other school, Bray found that IEPs also were largely
unused; however, co-teaching was used to help students with disabilities within
the inclusive classrooms, and once a day these students attended a special
education study hall. "We found that students in the second school had
greater access to special education services," said Bray. "In both
schools, while the IEPs were not being used as intended, they were still instrumental
in shaping the educational supports students received."
Bray said this research is important because it will
influence policy, as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is
currently up for reauthorization. The IDEA ensures that children with disabilities
receive free, appropriate public education and ensures special education and
related services are provided to those children.
"We believe our findings will invite debate moving
forward, especially as there is not much research in this area," Bray
said. "This project focused on students with specific learning
disabilities being educated within inclusive classrooms. In the future, we will
look at other factors, such as evaluating the organization of schools for the
inclusion of these students. We will also research how to better develop and
implement IEPs for students being educated within inclusive settings."
The other researcher on the project was Jennifer Russell,
associate professor of Learning Sciences and Policy at the University of
Pittsburgh.
Bray also is a faculty affiliate of the Center for
Educational Disparities Research, supported in part by Penn State's Social
Science Research Institute. Funding for this project was provided by the
Spencer Foundation and a grant from the Learning Research and Development
Center.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Penn State. Original written by
Kristie Auman-Bauer. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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