Variation in Special Education Classification Across School Districts: How Does Where You Live Affect What You Are Labeled?

Abstract

Using independent information collected from the parents and teachers of a stratified random sample of 829 special education students, we compared the classification practices of five major metropolitan school districts. We examined the functional levels of students with the same labels living in different districts and tested whether differences in functional status were associated with the prevalence of the classification. To determine whether special education designations might change if the students lived elsewhere, we reclassified the students in each district’s sample using discriminant functions estimated within each of the other districts (which empirically replicated that district’s classification scheme). We found that (a) functional levels of students classified as mentally retarded, physically/multiply handicapped and hearing impaired differed across districts; (b) districts that classified more students as mentally retarded were serving less severely impaired students under this label; and (c) districts were least consistent in their use of the mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed designations and most consistent in their use of the hearing impaired and, to a lesser extent, physically/multiply handicapped designations; districts’ use of the speech impaired and learning disabled designations fell between these two extremes.