You are here
Career and Technical Education, Inclusion, and Postsecondary Outcomes for Students With Disabilities
We use longitudinal data on all high school students in Washington State, including postsecondary education and workforce outcomes, to investigate predictors of intermediate and postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities. We pay particular attention to career and technical education (CTE) enrollment and the extent of inclusion in general education classrooms, as prior research suggests these factors may be particularly important in influencing the outcomes of students with disabilities. We estimate models that compare students with other students within the same school district, who are receiving special education services for the same disability, and have similar baseline measures of academic performance and other demographic information. We find generally weak relationships between CTE enrollment in any particular grade and intermediate and postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities, though we replicate earlier findings that students with disabilities who are enrolled in a “concentration” of CTE courses have higher rates of employment after graduation than students with disabilities who are similar in other observable ways but are enrolled in fewer CTE courses. We also find consistently strong evidence that students with disabilities who spend more time in general education classrooms experience better outcomes—fewer absences, higher academic performance, higher rates of grade progression and on-time graduation, and higher rates of college attendance and employment—than students with disabilities who are similar in other observable ways but spend less time in general education classrooms.
Keywords: Disabilities, Career and Technical Education, SPED
Citation: Roddy Theobald, Dan Goldhaber, Trevor Gratz, Kristian Holden (2017). Career and Technical Education, Inclusion, and Postsecondary Outcomes for Students With Disabilities. CALDER Working Paper No. 177
You May Also Be Interested In
Are Effective Teachers for Students with Disabilities Effective Teachers for All?
W. Jesse Wood, Ijun Lai, Neil R. Filosa, Scott A. Imberman, Nathan Jones, Katharine O. Strunk
New Evidence on Special Education Teacher Preparation
Roddy Theobald
Special Education Teacher Preparation, Literacy Instructional Alignment, and Reading Achievement for Students with High-Incidence Disabilities
Roddy Theobald, Dan Goldhaber, Kristian Holden, Marcy Stein
See other working papers on:
Research Area: Postsecondary pathways