| Jeffrey Anderson
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
Modeling resiliency in the prevention of special education identification
FINAL REPORT
While special education identification rates have continued to climb, understanding risk and protective factors for special education identification have not been fully explored. Researchers have described the cumulative influence that risk factors and compensatory factors can have on special education identification. Yet, even with increased risks, many children demonstrate resiliency and avoid special education identification. To date, however, prior research on risk and resilience has been problematic because of inadequate statistical models, limitations of available data, and the exclusion of key protective factors. Controlling for demographic variables, this study used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Kindergarten Cohort to examine the influence that family and school risk and protective factors had on special education identification across time. Findings from discrete-time hazard longitudinal modeling indicated that being female, from a higher socio-economic environment, and having parents who had higher expectations for post-secondary education protected against being identified for special education between kindergarten and fourth grade. Students face the greatest risk of being identified in first grade. Several implications for educational policy can be drawn from this study, perhaps more from the variables that did not predict identification. Indeed, the amount of time parents read to their children, the extent of parent and student closeness, and the level of parental involvement were not associated with identification. On the other hand, higher parental expectation for post secondary education attainment was not only a protective factor against getting identified, it also appeared to moderate the effects of poverty on special education identification..
Back to Funded Research Grants Page |