In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education directed states to use a uniform method of calculating high school graduation rates鈥攁 move intended to introduce true comparability to an important measure of school accountability.
But when it comes to students with disabilities, the uniformity that policymakers sought disappears.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act permits students in special education to stay in school until age 21, even though the uniform calculation focuses on students who graduate in four years. States also have a say in determining what courses a student with a disability can take to meet diploma requirements.
The implications are broader than just making it more difficult for researchers and policymakers to compare one state to another. Students with disabilities can potentially leave school with a 鈥渞egular鈥� diploma that includes coursework less rigorous than the work required of their typically developing peers.
Most students covered under the IDEA do not have a disability that would indicate a need for less-challenging coursework. Among students ages 6-21, 40 percent have 鈥渟pecific learning disabilities鈥� such as dyslexia; another 18 percent are classified with a speech or language disability, and the 14 percent in the third biggest category have 鈥渙ther health impairments.鈥� That might include attention deficit hyperactive disorder, epilepsy, or diabetes.
These numbers do not include smaller groups of students who are blind, deaf or have other disabilities, but not intellectual impairments. Experts believe these students may need supports, but not a less-rigorous curriculum.
鈥淲hy aren鈥檛 we looking at that more鈥攚hy aren鈥檛 we investing in a better understanding of the implications?鈥� asked David R. Johnson, the director of the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, who has surveyed states on their graduation requirements for students with disabilities. 鈥淚 think there is so much that we have not unraveled on this that really needs to be looked at with a closer eye.鈥�
What is 鈥楽tandard鈥�?
Graduation rates are now determined by counting how many 9th graders in a state leave school with a standard diploma four years later, with some wiggle room allowed for students who transfer into and out of their 9th grade cohort. The final calculation is known as the 鈥渁djusted cohort graduation rate.鈥�
But what is a standard diploma? As of 2010-11, the most recent national research on the topic, more than half the states鈥�36鈥攁llowed IEP teams to have some level of input into what counts as a high school completion requirement for students with disabilities. That number comes from a survey of states conducted by Mr. Johnson and Martha L. Thurlow, the director of the National Center on Educational Outcomes, also based at the University of Minnesota.
Graduation requirements change frequently, and a new survey is underway. But in the 2010-11 school year, states reported allowing students with disabilities to take easier substitute courses to count for credit, allowing them to skip end-of-course tests, or, alternatively, permitting them to earn a lower score on those end-of-course tests than their typically developing peers, but still receive a passing grade.
States also are able to decide for themselves the definition of 鈥渟tudent with a disability鈥� for the purpose of calculating graduation rates. Some states consider any student who started high school in special education to be a student with a disability, while others may count only those who ended high school with an IEP.
A Wider Spread
The influence of those variables is seen in the range of graduation rates reported by states. For the 2012-13 school year, among the general student population, the lowest reported rate was 62 percent, in the District of Columbia, and the highest was 90 percent, in Iowa. The percentage-point spread between the high and low rates is 28.
Among students with disabilities that same school year, however, the low ranges from 23 percent in Mississippi to 80 percent in Arkansas鈥攁 57 percentage-point spread.
鈥淭here has been no scrutiny of what states and districts are doing regarding graduation requirements for students with disabilities,鈥� said Candace Cortiella, the founder of the Marshall, Va.-based Advocacy Institute and the author of a 2013 report 鈥淒iplomas at Risk.鈥� That report looked at how differing graduation requirements affected students with specific learning disabilities.
Some scrutiny may be coming, however. Melody Musgrove, the director of the federal office of special education programs, said that the Education Department will ask some states to explain their graduation numbers.
In addition to the adjusted cohort graduation rate, states have long had to report a 鈥渓eaver rate鈥� for students with disabilities to the federal government. That number is calculated differently from the adjusted cohort graduation rate, so federal officials do not expect an exact match, but did note some larger-than-expected discrepancies.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working with states to better understand those, and to better help states understand what the requirements mean,鈥� she said.
But requiring that IEP teams be dropped from the process of determining graduation requirements is not currently under consideration, said Ruth Ryder, the deputy director of the special education office.
鈥淪ome states have alternate pathways to a regular diploma that allow students to demonstrate what they know and can do related to the general curriculum. They would involve the IEP team making that decision,鈥� Ms. Ryder said. 鈥淥ne of the things we鈥檝e heard is that some people want us to say that anything that involves the IEP in earning a regular diploma is bad, and we don鈥檛 believe that鈥檚 true. There are legitimate alternate pathways to a regular diploma that hold students with disabilities to high standards.鈥�
