Transcript Reducing System-wide Racial Disproportionality in the

Reducing System-wide Racial
Disproportionality in the
Prevalence of Emotionally
Disabled Students
Chesapeake Bay Consulting Group
www.Chesapeakebayconsulting.com 301-518-8913
Nichole Hobbs
Bob Hull
Jim Mount
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Overarching Goal
Participants will be able to develop a
comprehensive, coordinated, early
intervention system to reduce
racial disproportionality in the
identification and placement of
students classified as Emotionally
Disturbed.
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Goals
Participants will Understand:
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the impact of IDEA 2004 on
disproportionality in special education
basic epidemiological data & concepts
how needs assessments challenge
assumptions about risk and protective
factors
promising practices used to respond
to disproportionality
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Goals
Participants will Understand:
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impact of delay in service on special
education rates
impact of co-occurring conditions on
identification and treatment
evidenced based interventions that
impact identification rates & reduce
placement duration
how to plan for improving assessment
and IEP team decision making
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What is Disproportionality?
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What is
Disproportionality?
“the extent to which membership in a
given group affects the probability of
being placed in a specific special
education disability category.” ( Oswald,
et. al. 1999.)
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IDEA 2004 &
Racial Disproportionality
Requires state and local education
agencies to develop policies and
procedures designed to prevent overidentification or disproportionality by
race of children with disabilities.
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IDEA 2004 &
Racial Disproportionality
Each state must provide for the
collection and examination of data to
determine if significant
disproportionality is occurring in the
state and the local educational
agencies.
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IDEA 2004 &
Racial Disproportionality
Applies to:
 overall disability rates,
 rates by disability code
 placement in specific settings.
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The New Realities
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Disproportionality is NOT discrimination,
though discrimination may play a part.
Disproportionality is NOT cultural insensitivity
and lack of diverse programming.
Disproportionality is NOT un-equal numbers
of blacks and whites in special education.
Disproportionality is about the probability of
being identified/placed in SPED based on
race.
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The New Realities
Require any LEA identified as being
disproportionate to reserve the
maximum amount of funds under 613f
(15 percent of total Special Education
budget) to provide comprehensive,
coordinated early intervening services to
those groups that are significantly over
identified.
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Implications of No Child Left
Behind and IDEA 2004
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All Service Providers must be highly
qualified and provide evidence based
interventions.
Do minorities/poor students have equal
access to highly qualified service
providers?
Do they have the same access to evidence
based interventions?
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Successful Response
Highly qualified staff and equal
access to evidence based programs
will be the foundation of any
effort to address disproportionality.
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Epidemiological View
The new realities dictate a new
way of viewing data. For many
years the medical literature has
employed an epidemiological
perspective, and recently OSEP has
signaled that they will be using this
type of data analysis.
How is Disproportionality
Determined?
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The Risk Ratio provides a comparative
index of risk of being placed in a particular
disability category and is the preferred
indicator of disproportionate
representation by the Office of Special
Education Programs.
Risk Ratio is calculated by dividing the risk
of one racial group by the risk of another
racial group.
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Disproportionality:
a concern for 3 decades
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Black children are 2.88 times more often
labeled MR and 1.92 times more often labeled
ED than white children.
In some states, Asian/Pacific Islanders are
more than twice as likely to be identified as
SLD.
Native Americans labeled ED or SLD by a factor
of two.
Note: these data are expressed as probabilities.
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Are all Risk Factors Equal?
What are the “Risk Factors”
associated with students
developing an
Emotional/Behavioral Disorder?
What data do you need?
How is this determination made?
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Risk Factors from the 2001, 2002, and
2003 National Health Interview Surveys
(2005)
ED Identification by Gender
Male=6.3
Female=3.3
ED Identification by Age
10
Percent
5
0
Series1
4-7
8-10
11-
15-
3.3
5.5
4.9
6.1
Age
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Risk Factors from the 2001, 2002, and
2003 National Health Interview Surveys
(2005)
Family Risk Factors for ED
7
ECONOMIC RISK
6
5
4
Risk for ED by Economic
3
2
1
7
0
Series1
Single Parent
2-Parent
7
4
6
5
FAMILY STATUS RISK
4
3
2
1
0
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% ED
Poverty
Non-Poverty
7
4.6
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Characteristics of ED
(SEELS)
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Elementary Secondary
Male
80%
76%
African American
27%
25%
Living in Poverty
33%
30%
Single Parent
34%
38%
Other family member
disabled
46%
46%
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Skill Deficits of ED Students
by Parent Report (SEELS)
Elementary Secondary
Low Social Skills
27%
33%
Low Self Control Skills
29%
27%
Low Assertiveness
11%
24%
Low Cooperation Skills 24%
58%
Normal Cognitive Skills 89%
97.5%
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Education Experiences
of ED Students (SEELS)
4 or More Schools
Attended
70
Retentions %
40
35
60
30
50
25
20
40
15
30
10
20
5
0
10
Retentions %
Elementary
Secondary
22
37.7
0
Elementary Secondary
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Education Experiences
of ED Students (SEELS)
ED Students Suspended or
Expelled
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Series1
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Elementary
Secondary
47.7
72.9
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National Longitudinal Transition
Study (NLTS2 data 2004)
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Secondary SPED Students (ED)
Selected Characteristics
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77% of ED students are male
25% of ED students are Black (Pop rate 16%)
30% of ED students are poor (Pop rate 20%)
Higher rates of one parent household, parent
less than high school education
Higher rates of ADHD and Low social skills
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Summary
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5% of the school aged population have
significant emotional/behavioral problems. Only
1% are identified as emotionally disabled.
Children enter the special education system at
younger ages.
Disabled students stay in school past the
mandatory age.
Identification versus availability and quality of
service? What creates disproportion?
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Implications of the Data
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Conduct a thorough needs assessment before
addressing racial disproportionality.
Effective programs can cause disproportionality:
early ID/treatment efforts and Drop-Out
prevention programs increase enrollment.
Assess both Risk and Protective factors.
Poor, Adolescent, African American Males will
have highest rates of ED
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Length of Stay Activity
Ms. McGillicutty teaches the slower third grade at A
Bridge Too Far Elementary. She generally has one
special needs student in her class. One year, she
retains Damion, a special needs student. The following
year, his brother Darrien, also a special needs student
enters the class. Ms. McGillicutty has doubled her rate
of special education students, as measured by state and
federal assessments.
Imagine this going on all through Acme Township Public
Schools. The following slides show the cost of
retention, both for special education and for regular
education students.
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Retention Costs
Grade
K
1
2
Basic
Cohort
1000
1000
Retain
@
1%
1010
10
10
11
12
1000
1000
1000
1000
1000
13000
1020
1030
1105
1116
1127
1138
13947
20
30
105
116
127
138
947
41
4
5
6
7
8
Totals
9
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3
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Retention Costs
Looking at data from Acme Township Public
Schools, note that a retention rate of 1% yields
an overall increase in student population of 947,
or nearly another cohort/grade. Those
additional students will generate additional
costs, with no positive outcomes.
If Acme’s average cost per pupil is $8500 with a
total budget of 110 million, then retention at 1%
costs an additional 8 million dollars per year, not
counting capital costs.
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Special Education ID @ 2% Rate
11
12
1000
1000
10
1000
9
1000
8
#
Totals Ratio
13000
1820
#
##
260
240
220
200
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##
60
##
40
7
##
20
6
#
1000
##
1000
##
1000
3 4 5
80
SPED
(S)
@
2%
2
##
COHORT
1
#
K
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0.14
Special Education ID @ 2% Rate
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The previous chart shows the impact of
identification at a 2% rate. Note that as
the age/grade increases, numbers of
identified students increase.
The following chart assumes a 1%
retention rate and a 1% identification rate
to account for the overlap between the
two categories.
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Special Education
and Retention
##
##
#
##
#
##
##
#
SPED +
RETAIN
@ 2%
##
13000
1294
#
##
12
1000
##
COHORT
10
totals
11
1268
9
1000
8
1243
7
1061
1040
6
1000
1000
5
1020
4
1000
3
1000
2
1219
1
1000
K
14974
(947)
1974
Note: Retention provides a minimum of 150 extra SPED students per year.
For a cost analysis, go to www.chesapeakeconsulting.com and view more
data from Acme Township Public Schools
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System Responses
Some systems, having been cited for
disproportionality, have responded by
revising policies as their sole response.
We refer to that as:
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From Now On I’ll Be Good
Acme Township ED Program
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
100 students, 50 white & 50 black
LEA has overall ratio of 75% white, 25%
black
Risk Ratio=2.0
10% of ED student replaced annually.
Starting now, proportion of incoming
students will accurately reflect
population
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> 3 Years of Perfection
Start: 100 @ 50:50………….Risk Ratio=2
>1 Y: 10 exited. Incoming@ 7.5:2.5
New Totals: 52.5:47.5
>2 Y: 10 exited. Incoming@ 7.5:2.5
New Totals: 55:45
>3 Y: 10 exited. Incoming@ 7.5:2.5
New Totals: 57.5:42.5
Risk Ratio=1.7
Go to www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com for more
information (look in data for Acme Township
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Challenging Assumptions
Using a
Needs Assessment
Dr. Jim Mount
Needs Assessment
A needs assessment is a systematic
exploration of data concerning a particular
issue including strengths and challenges
Strengths and challenges are associated
with organizational and/or individual
performance
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A Needs Assessment Answers
the Following Questions
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Size the gap between current status and
goals?
Who must learn What?
What changes in Behavior & Performance
can close this gap?
Contingencies for Behavior & Performance
Costs and benefits for each method?
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Needs Assessment
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Begin with a GAP analysis
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Use data to challenge assumptions. What is
the actual performance of individual schools
compared to the goals of IDEA and NCLB?
What is the distribution over grade levels for
identified students? What should it be?
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Needs Assessment
Contributing factors?
 Committed
Leadership,
 Staffing ratios, highly qualified staff
 Availability of evidenced based
interventions,
 Student Characteristics, Mobility,
 Policies and Procedures
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What to Look For
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Problems as deficits: What part of the
problem can we change with skill
development?
Strengths: Are we taking full advantage of
our organizational strengths?
New Directions: Do we see new solutions
or just using more of the same? Can we
work smarter?
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Priorities and Changes
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Cost Effectiveness: Which solutions generate
most change? Immediacy, Expense, Impact will
be outside variables.
What is cost of change vs. maintenance of
current effort?
What are the legal mandates?
What are the executive pressures for change?
How will the family and advocacy organizations
be involved?
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Solutions

Everybody contributes data & proposals. This is
a systems problem, not a Special Education
problem.
 What organizational changes do we need?
Policy and Procedure Changes
 Strategic Planning
 Organization Restructuring
 Performance Management
 Accountability, Training
 Team Building

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Focus on Change
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Identify specific opportunities and what
our new performance requirements are.
Who needs to change and how?
Systems Change Components:
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Professional Development
Technical support
Supervision and focused audits
Surveillance of data
Feedback and adaptation of effort
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Summary-Checklist
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Perform a “gap” analysis to identify the current skills,
knowledge, and abilities of your people/organization vs.
the identified needs
Identify your priorities and importance of possible
activities
Identify root causes of your performance problems
and/or opportunities. Identify possible solutions and
growth opportunities.
Evaluate costs/benefits/consequences of each proposed
solution. Immediacy, Expense, Impact
Generate and communicate your recommendations for
training and development, organization development,
career development, and/or other interventions
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By the Seat of Their Pants
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Sometimes LEA’s implement interventions
without performing a needs assessment. See if
you can find some of the mistakes.
Frederick-Arundel Regional Township Schools, a suburban
school system outside Gotham, was cited for having too
many African American ED students identified and
placed. One Thursday afternoon the top six special
education administrators and the board attorney met to
determine their response.
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By the Seat of Their Pants
After nearly three hours, they decided on an early
intervention program, serving pre-K through 4th. They
designed a preventative program, theorizing early
intervention would reduce numbers of identified ED
students later. This was expensive, since the
preventative program would provide services for many
non-disabled students. After approval from the
Superintendent and the board, 25 counselors and social
workers were hired to staff school mental health centers,
located in selected elementary schools. In an attempt to
save money, the system did not hire any supervisors.
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By the Seat of Their Pants
As a result, programs sometimes lacked focus, with some
centers functioning as community mental health centers,
while others treated “at risk students” and teachers’
mental health issues. There was also some drift away
from evidenced-based interventions, although all the
centers collected copious amounts of data, which they
subsequently declined to share with administrators,
citing privacy issues.
After 3 years, the LEA was cited again for the same
infraction. The administrators were dismissed and an
outside consultant doing a needs assessment found that:
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By the Seat of Their Pants
The bulk of African American ED students were entering
the system in the 7th & 8th grades, as their parents
became more successful and migrated out of Gotham
into the suburbs. While the early intervention may have
had some impact on their younger siblings, it did not
address and had no effect on the secondary students
who were responsible for the citation.
When the new administrators tried to redeploy resources to
serve secondary students, they met with fierce
resistance. “How can you take away needed services
from the youngest most vulnerable students,” asked
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By the Seat of Their Pants
members of the community? The new hires, having
attained tenure, did not wish to switch to working with
difficult adolescents. The host schools enjoyed having
their own mental health resource and were reluctant to
change.
The net result was that most the resources stayed in place,
and other resources were diverted from programs which
could not afford any cuts, including the Superintendent’s
pet project, Gifted Autistic Students. This created
another round of administrative downsizing in the SPED
department.
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By the Seat of Their Pants
This all could have prevented by first completing a
thorough needs assessment as background to make
plans leading to better outcomes.
In addition to the lack of a needs assessment, the plan
suffered from lack of planning, lack of proper funding,
lack of oversight, lack of interim measures, lack of focus
and poor understanding about the desired outcomes.
Consequences for haphazard planning in these days of
tight budgets are real and full of risk for those of us in
positions of responsibility.
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Promising Practices Currently
Used to Respond to
Disproportionality
Helpful Policies and Procedures that
Reduce Disproportionality--ID
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Improve consistency of Annual Review and Reevaluation meeting procedures (Manualization of
Disabilities and Procedures).
Create data surveillance systems and team
decision making audits.
Institute formal procedures to review transfers
 Review/revise disability
 Review/revise program intensity
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Helpful Policies and Procedures that
Reduce Disproportionality--ID
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Placement decisions based on present level of
performance and response to intervention rather
than disability code
Procedures for Differential Classification of
students at a young age, Developmentally
Disabled, Multiply Handicapped, Other Health
Impaired or Emotionally Disturbed
Appropriate services for ancillary conditions,
PTSD, Social Maladjustment, Conduct Disorder,
Substance Abuse, Anger Management
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Improved Length of Stay
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Fostering independence and Fading student
supports for successful students
The use of “temporary” assignment of students
into disability categories and special education
Establish case management & support systems
to prevent grade retention, especially in
secondary school
Prioritize Academic Enabling and Requisite
Learning Behaviors on Every IEP
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Improved Length of Stay
Add a timeline for expected return
to full-time regular education
along with necessary criteria.
Require educators to explain nonreturn to regular class
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Is There a Disproportionate
Delay in Service??

SEELS and NLTS2 both indicate that there
is a significant delay between
identification of a problem and special
education service, on average 3.2 years.
Children having mental health issues have
the longest delay between initial problem
and service delivery
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Is There a Disproportionate
Delay in Service??

The Civil Rights Project at the Harvard Graduate
School of Education:
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“Minority Children are underserved…The lack of early
intervention for minority children may exacerbate
their learning and behavior problems”
IDEA 2004…if disproportionality is determined
then school systems must provide
“comprehensive early intervening services”
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Discussion
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What early intervention services provide
evidence that they impact special education
rates? In reference to Emotional Disturbance.
 Do reading and other academic interventions
impact identification of ED students?
 Limited and conflicting school based data on
this issue
 What do the available data tell us? In many
Maryland school systems African Americans
have the lowest utilization of early
intervention services and in others some of
the highest rates
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Discussion
Can we generalize from data generated by efforts to
provide highly qualified staff and evidenced based
interventions (PBIS, IC, Project Achieve, CSMHA) to
what early interventions work to impact ED
disproportionality? Impact of setting/environment in
which the intervention occurs?
Systems need to examine the age distribution curve of
students with disabilities to determine impact of early
intervention. Target intervention to high risk: schools,
grades and demographics.
How does mobility impact prevention efforts? What are
the impact of population dynamics?
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
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Preventive Interventions
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Department Of Health and Human
Services Data indicate that targeted short
term mental health therapy is one of the
six types of prevention interventions that
have been determined to be effective
The Office of the Surgeon General reports
that children with serious emotional
disturbances are most likely to benefit the
most from mental health services
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Impact of Co-Occurring
Conditions
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What are the co-occurring conditions in
children who are identified as Emotionally
Disabled?
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ADHD
Conduct Disorders
PTSD
Alcohol/Substance Abuse
Academic Underachievement
Discipline Issues
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Co-Occurring conditions &
prevalence rates?
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Increased referral rates at a younger age for
students with multiple conditions
Increased length of stay
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Absenteeism: unavailable for intervention and
reduced effectiveness of interventions
Engagement in Learning
Attitude toward school
Incarceration (see Absenteeism)
Suspension/Expulsion
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Recommendations
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Start collecting data on co-occurring conditions
 Screen for, or assess co-occurring conditions as part of the
pre-referral and special education assessment process
Increased partnerships with agencies that treat these conditions
within the community
Intensify efforts to involve individual and family
Development of case management system
Identify evidenced based treatments for these conditions and
refer out or provide them as part of a comprehensive,
coordinated early intervention program
Match the intervention to the condition that is impacting
education. If child is absent due to substance abuse then the
best reading and therapeutic intervention is rendered ineffective.
Is this cheaper and more effective than special education?
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Evidenced Based Interventions
for co-occurring conditions
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Center for School Mental Health Assistance, University of
Maryland; Mark Weist
School Mental Health Program University of California at Los
Angeles; Linda Taylor & Howard Adelman
IDEA Partnership National Association of State Directors of
Special Education, JoAnne Cashman
Johns Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence,
Johns Hopkins; Dr. Leaf and Dr. Ialongo
National Child Traumatic Stress Network, multiple sites
NCTSN.org
National Institute for Mental Health, NIMH US government
agency
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration SAMSHA,
US government agency
Surgeon Generals Office, US government agency
Take evidence-based practice and adapt to your specific needs
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Evidenced Based Interventions
& Identification Rates
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Are we preventing ED or treating co-occurring
disorders in order to prevent misidentification?
Treatments for behavior or social disorders in
order to prevent misidentification
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Anger management
Social Skills
Self Monitoring…Executive Functioning
Positive Behavior Supports…Functional Behavior
Assessment/Behavior Intervention Plans
Family involvement and culturally responsive
education
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Interventions & Identification
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Preventing educational disabilities in ED students
 Access to early, effective mental health
treatments
Multi-modal treatments (NIMH MMMT as models)
 Cognitive Behavior Therapy (Cognitive Behavior for
Traumatized Students, CBITS, Sopris West)
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Wrap around services and case management
such as Family Preservation Services
Family involvement and culturally responsive
services
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
From Past Experience With LD,
For ED Students, We Should:
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document all exclusionary aspects of ED
not just the presence of a “condition”
Focus on team decision making and not a
“qualified examiner”
resist constant pressure applied to IEP
teams to waive some or all of the criteria
consider “Non-SPED” options to reduce
placements
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Current National Issues in the
Identification of ED Students
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There is a documented history of inconsistent application
of the qualifying criteria
Having outside assessments, advocates and parental or
school administrative pressure increases the probability
of waiving some of the criteria
Reliance on a “qualified examiner” to determine the
presence of ED
Acting out behavior or suspensions increases the
probability of being identified as ED
Parent dissatisfaction with the process is extremely high
There is a significant delay between initial presentation
of symptoms and service delivery
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Defining ED
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Definition goes beyond the presence of a
condition and includes eligibility criteria
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Condition
Condition exists for six months or more
The condition is not best described as “social
maladjustment”
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Defining ED
The condition causes a marked
educational need that cannot be
addressed by general education
interventions
 Not eligible for other overriding
disability
 The condition is present to a marked
degree
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Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Improving Reliability & Validity
of ED Eligibility
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Definition of terms
Definition of eligibility
Eligibility determination checklist
Guidelines for referral to IEP team
Guidelines for dismissal/change of disability
Documentation form for ED identification
Required Assessments
Definition of Socially Maladjusted for R/O
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
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Benefits of Developing a Well Defined
Comprehensive Team Evaluation
Process
Accurate/Consistent ident. & svc.
delivery
Supervision and audit decision making
Scheduling of timely re-evaluations
Review incoming records
Focus on teams/schools that need
training, don’t use resources
uncessisarily
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Systems Change
System Change Means
Changing Structures
Necessary But Not Sufficient to
Make Need-based Changes
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Provide the knowledge base to school leaders
that will ensure the necessary support;
Identify what practices need to be changed; and
Plan and implement (budget for long-term) a
staff development plan that includes goals and
objectives related to attitude change,
awareness, skill development and knowledge
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
System Structure for Change
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Develop training structures for new staff.
Implement a data review schedule.
Hold school based staff responsible for
maintenance of the program.
Shift leadership and training capability to
internal leaders.
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Job Embedded Professional
Development
Specialists must provide the system with a cadre
of individuals who can:
 provide future training sessions
 provide technical support and feedback that
facilitates the use of new approaches
 Provide staff who can support a school’s ability
to bridge the gap between new ideas and
practical application in unique, complex
situations.
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Summary
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Since 1997 IDEA has prioritized identifying and
responding to disproportionality
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National data suggest that disproportionality is getting
worse not better
Disproportionality is due to complex multiple
factors including some very positive reasons, i.e.
early identification efforts and effective drop out
prevention programs.
The IDEA 2004 has renewed emphasis on
responding to disproportionality, with financial
consequences
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
SUMMARY
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There are multiple examples of effective
methods to respond to this issue.
All effective methods begin with a needs
assessment.
All the effective methods have at their
core the ability to look at data in new
ways, primarily in epidemiological
perspectives.
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
SUMMARY
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One program does not produce desired
change. The few successful systems have
used multiple methods, such as training,
changing policies and dealing with cooccurring conditions.
Successful interventions usually relied in
part on outside support, either from a
private source or from a local University.
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
SUMMARY- Checklist
Get help to avoid pitfalls
Get help to make sure your efforts
align with the demands of IDEA
Get help to avoid unnecessary
expense, and focus your efforts
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
SUMMARY-Checklist
Change really is difficult; get help to
make changes system-wide &
permanent
Make sure outlays for any changes
produce net savings.
Ideas are cheap. Planning &
Implementation determine success.
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Questions?
Comments?
Contact
Chesapeakebayconsulting.com
Chesapeake Bay
Consulting Group, LLC
301-518-8913 www.chesapeakebayconsulting.com