The Academic Achievement and Functional Performance of Youth With ...

[Pages:112]The Academic Achievement and Functional Performance of Youth With Disabilities

A Report From the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2)

NCSER 2006-3000 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

The Academic Achievement and Functional Performance of Youth With Disabilities

A Report From the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2)

July 2006

Mary Wagner Lynn Newman Ren?e Cameto Phyllis Levine SRI International

Patricia Gonzalez Project Officer Institute of Education Sciences

NCSER 2006-3000 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

U.S. Department of Education Margaret Spellings Secretary

Institute of Education Sciences Grover J. Whitehurst Director

National Center for Special Education Research Edward Kame'enui Commissioner

The National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) supports a comprehensive research program to promote the highest quality and rigor in research on special education and related services, and to address the full range of issues facing children with disabilities, parents of children with disabilities, school personnel, and others.

We strive to make our products available in a variety of formats and in language that is appropriate to a variety of audiences. You, as our customer, are the best judge of our success in communicating information effectively. If you have any comments or suggestions about this or any other NCSER product or report, we would like to hear from you. Please direct your comments to

National Center for Special Education Research Institute of Education Sciences U.S. Department of Education 555 New Jersey Ave, NW Washington, DC 20208

The National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, under contract number ED-01-CO-0003. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government.

This report was prepared for the Institute of Education Sciences under Contract No. ED-01-CO-0003. The project officer is Patricia Gonzalez in the National Center for Special Education Research.

July 2006

The NCSER World Wide Web Home Page address is The NCSER World Wide Web Electronic Catalog is The National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 website is

This publication is only available online. To download, view, and print the report as a PDF file, go to the NCSER World Wide Web Electronic Catalog address shown above.

Suggested Citation

Wagner, M., Newman, L., Cameto, R., and Levine, P. (2006). The Academic Achievement and Functional Performance of Youth With Disabilities. A Report From the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2). (NCSER 2006-3000). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

Content Contact

Patricia Gonzalez (202) 219-1011 Patricia.Gonzalez@

Contents

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. ix

1. Assessing the Academic Achievements and Functional Performance of Youth With Disabilities ................................................................................................................. 1 Research Questions ...................................................................................................... 1 Study Overview ............................................................................................................. 2 Data Sources ................................................................................................................ 2 Youth Assessments ................................................................................................. 3 Parent/Guardian Interviews ..................................................................................... 4 School Surveys ....................................................................................................... 5 School- and School-District-Identified Primary Disability Category .......................... 5 Youth Included in the Report ......................................................................................... 5 Technical Notes ............................................................................................................ 6 Organization of the Report ............................................................................................ 7

2. Measurement and Analysis Considerations ............................................................... 9 Research Versions of the Woodcock-Johnson III Subtests ........................................... 9 Determining the Form of Assessment ........................................................................... 10 Assessment Procedures ............................................................................................... 10 Direct Assessment .................................................................................................. 10 Functional Rating .................................................................................................... 12 Analysis Approaches ..................................................................................................... 12 Youth to Whom Findings Generalize ............................................................................. 13

3. The Academic Achievement of Youth With Disabilities in Reading, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies ......................................................................................... 15 Assessment Subtests .................................................................................................... 15 Youth's Academic Achievement .................................................................................... 16 Disability Category Differences in Academic Achievement ............................................ 18 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 22

4. What Factors Are Associated With the Academic Achievement of Youth With Disabilities? ............................................................................................... 23 Hypothesized Relationships to the Academic Achievement of Youth With Disabilities ... 24 Individual Characteristics of Youth ........................................................................... 24 Disability Characteristics ...................................................................................... 24 Functioning .......................................................................................................... 25 Demographic Characteristics ............................................................................... 28 Household Characteristics ....................................................................................... 28 School Experiences ................................................................................................. 30 Accommodations During Testing ............................................................................. 31

iii

Factors Related to the Academic Achievement of Youth With Disabilities ..................... 32 Individual Characteristics of Youth ........................................................................... 32 Disability Characteristics ...................................................................................... 32 Functioning .......................................................................................................... 35 Demographic Characteristics ............................................................................... 35 Household Characteristics ....................................................................................... 36 School Experiences ................................................................................................. 36 Accommodations Provided During Testing .............................................................. 37

How Much Variation Is Explained by the Models? ......................................................... 37 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 38

5. The Abilities of Youth Reported on the Functional Rating ......................................... 39 Functional Skills ............................................................................................................ 40 Disability Differences in Functional Performance ........................................................... 43 Demographic Differences in Functional Performance .................................................... 44 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 45

6. A Summary of the National Picture of the Academic Achievement and Functional Performance of Youth With Disabilities ....................................................................... 47 Academic Achievement ................................................................................................. 47 Factors Related to Academic Achievement ................................................................... 48 The Functional Performance of Youth With Disabilities ................................................. 49

References .......................................................................................................................... 51

Appendices A. NLTS2 Sampling, Data Collection, and Analysis Procedures .................................... A-1

NLTS2 Sample Overview .............................................................................................. A-1 The NLTS2 LEA Sample ............................................................................................... A-2

Defining the Universe of LEAs ................................................................................. A-2 Stratification ............................................................................................................ A-2 LEA Sample Size .................................................................................................... A-3 The NLTS2 Student Sample .......................................................................................... A-4 Data Sources ................................................................................................................ A-4 Youth Assessments ................................................................................................. A-6 Parent/Youth Data Collection .................................................................................. A-6 Waves 1 and 2 School Data Collection .................................................................... A-9 Combining Data from Multiple Data Sources ................................................................. A-10 Maintaining the Analytic Sample Size ...................................................................... A-10 Weighting the Youth Assessment Data ......................................................................... A-14 Estimating Standard Errors ........................................................................................... A-16 Unweighted and Weighted Sample Sizes ...................................................................... A-17 Calculating Significance Levels ..................................................................................... A-18

iv

Categorizing Students by Primary Disability .................................................................. A-19 Appendix A References ................................................................................................. A-21 B. Characteristics of Youth With Disabilities Participating in the Direct Assessment and Functional Rating ................................................................................................... B-1 Disability Categories of Assessment Participants .......................................................... B-2 Age at Disability Identification and First Receipt of Special Education Services ............ B-3 Functional Abilities ........................................................................................................ B-4 School and Program Characteristics ............................................................................. B-6 Academic and Social Outcomes and Experiences ........................................................ B-8 Parents' Expectations for Their Children's Futures ........................................................ B-9 Summary ....................................................................................................................... B-10 Appendix B References ................................................................................................. B-10 C. Supplemental Analysis Results .......................................................................................C-1

v

Listing of Tables

Table

Page

1 Mean standard scores of youth with disabilities on Woodcock-Johnson III subtests,

by disability category .................................................................................................... 18

2 Factors associated with variation in the passage comprehension and mathematics

calculation skills and science content knowledge of youth with disabilities ................... 33

3 Standard scores on the broad independence measure, by disability category .............. 43

A-1 Data sources for variables included in this report ......................................................... A-5 A-2 Response rates for NLTS2 youth assessments ............................................................ A-6 A-3 Response rates for NLTS2 Waves 1 and 2 parent/youth data collection ...................... A-9 A-4 Response rates for NLTS2 Waves 1 and 2 general education academic teacher and

school program surveys ............................................................................................... A-10 A-5 Imputation of missing values ........................................................................................ A-12 A-6 Unweighted means of variables included in the full direct assessment sample and

each multivariate analysis ............................................................................................ A-13 A-7 Example of weighted percentage calculation ................................................................ A-15 A-8 Example of calculating weighted sample sizes ............................................................. A-17 A-9 Population sizes of groups represented by NLTS2 ....................................................... A-18 A-10 Definitions of disabilities ............................................................................................... A-19 A-11 Original primary disability category of youth assigned to deaf-blindness category for

NLTS2 reporting purposes ........................................................................................... A-21

B-1 Age at identification of and first services for disabilities of youth in the direct assessment and functional rating groups ..................................................................... B-4

B-2 Functional characteristics of youth with disabilities in the direct assessment and functional rating groups ................................................................................................ B-5

B-3 Daily living scale scores of youth with disabilities in the direct assessment and functional rating groups ................................................................................................ B-6

B-4 School program characteristics of youth with disabilities who participated in the direct assessment and functional ratings ...................................................................... B-7

B-5 Services and supports received by youth with disabilities in the direct assessment and functional rating groups ......................................................................................... B-8

B-6 Parents' expectations for youth with disabilities who participated in the direct assessment and functional ratings ............................................................................... B-9

C-1 Performance of youth with disabilities on Woodcock-Johnson III subtests, by disability category .................................................................................................... C-1

C-2 Factors associated with variation in the use of synonyms and antonyms, applied problem solving skills, and social studies content knowledge of youth with disabilities ............................................................................................................. C-3

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