We examine the efficiency of traditional school districts versus charter schools in providing students with teachers who meet their demographic and education needs. Using panel data from the state of Michigan, we estimate the relationship between enrollment of Black, Hispanic, special education, and English learner students and the presence of…

Annually, 13% of special educators leave teaching, twice that of general educators (Wong et al., 2017). In June 2017, the U.S. Department of Education and Office of Postsecondary Education announced that 46 states were drastically short of special education teachers (Robinson et al., 2019). This study explores how university special education…

Since the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, there has been a notable increase in the enrollment of students receiving special education services (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2022). However, despite advancements in special education programming and service delivery, academic…

The U.S. Supreme Court has heard several cases regarding special education. These cases have resulted in decisions that have addressed issues involving special education programming and procedural issues. On March 21, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in "Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools." This decision, which was the…

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) entitles students with disabilities to a free appropriate public education. Students with disabilities often require additional support to enable them to achieve academic and functional goals relative to their nondisabled peers. These legally protected supports and services all add up…

There is growing evidence that school starting age impacts children's likelihood of receiving special education services, but less is known about variations in this effect. Using a regression discontinuity design, I found that the youngest students in a kindergarten cohort are 40% more likely (p < 0.001) to be placed in special education than…

State governments have the purview to interpret federal special education policies as they see fit. Interpretations of these policies to music education rarely are addressed within state special education policy. The authors selected four states to analyze and compare state special education policies; Illinois, Michigan, Texas, and Virginia.…

School funding in Michigan is inadequate and inequitable. Michigan does not provide a sufficient base per-pupil amount, nor does the state properly address the cost of educating students with additional needs, especially students with disabilities, English learners, and low-income students. It would cost $4.5 billion to bring districts to funding…

Virtual Reality Job Interview Training (VR-JIT) and Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth (VIT-TAY) demonstrated initial effectiveness at increasing employment among transition-age youth with disabilities engaged in pre-employment transition services. We characterized activities and estimated the labor and non-labor costs required to…

Autistic transition age youth struggle with obtaining employment, and interviewing is a critical barrier to getting a job. We adapted an efficacious virtual reality job interview intervention to meet the needs of autistic transition age youth, called the Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth. This study evaluated whether Virtual…

We use data from Michigan and an interrupted time series (ITS) strategy to show how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted new special education classifications and discontinuations. We find a substantial decrease in K-5 classifications and discontinuations during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. Classifications fell by 19 and 12 percent in these…

Teacher certificates often span broad grade bands, such as K-5, K-6, or even K-8. To earn these certificates, teacher candidates often spend more time learning content designed for older children and less on early childhood development and early literacy and numeracy. This issue of "State Innovations" highlights the Michigan State Board…

In this dissertation, I seek to understand encroachment within school finance, wherein school districts must divert unrestricted, general education revenues to compensate for unfunded, mandated special education costs. I claim that encroachment in itself is not an issue -- special education students should be funded, and it is fair for local…

The identification of students with specific learning disabilities has evolved since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) in 2004. This reauthorization gave state agencies parameters that disallowed using the severe discrepancy model for identification as a stand-alone method. In response to…

There is growing evidence that school starting age impacts children's likelihood of receiving special education services, but less is known about variations in this effect. Using a regression discontinuity design, I found that the youngest students in a kindergarten cohort are 40% more likely (p < 0.001) to be placed in special education than…