Department of Education
Date August 28, 2024
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From Insight to Impact with Professor Christopher Cleveland

Our new "Insight to Impact" series invites faculty from the Education Department to share how their recent research can be applied in practical ways that improve education systems. Here, we look at Professor Cleveland's research papers, "Understanding Individualized Education Program (IEP) Goals at Scale" and "The Effects of Response to Intervention on Disability Identification and Achievement."

The Research

Understanding Individualized Education Program (IEP) Goals at Scale

07/2024 | Annenberg Institute EdWorkingPapers | Christopher Cleveland, Jessica Markham. 

Abstract

Students with disabilities represent 15% of U.S. public school students. Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) inform how students with disabilities experience education. Very little is known about the aspects of IEPs as they are historically paper-based forms. In this study, we develop a coding taxonomy to categorize IEP goals into 10 subjects and 40 skills. We apply the taxonomy to digital IEP records for an entire state to understand the variety of IEP goal subjects and skills prescribed to students with different disabilities. This study highlights the utility of studying digital IEP records for informing practice and policy. 

From Insight to Impact

  • Traditional information captured in state and district administrative data about the experiences of students with disabilities is insufficient to understand the nuances of experiences as further reflected in student IEPs.

  • States and districts can systematize the collection of IEPs through digital systems or well-managed online PDF systems to integrate with research tools that allow for the synthesis of patterns across IEPs.

  • The patterns of information identified in different parts of the IEP can be used to inform professional development, support efforts, and compliance.
     

The Research

The Effects of Response to Intervention on Disability Identification and Achievement

08/2024 | Annenberg Institute EdWorkingPapers | Nicholas Ainsworth, Christopher Cleveland, Andrew Penner.

Abstract

Currently 15 percent of U.S. students receive special education services, a widespread intensive intervention with variable effects on students. Spurred by changes in federal policy, many states and districts have begun adopting the Response to Intervention (RTI) approach to identifying students to receive special education services. RTI seeks to provide a system for targeting interventions to children facing early academic challenges and identifying children with specific learning disabilities (SLD). This paper uses a difference-in-differences design to examine the effects of RTI adoption across Oregon on elementary students’ disability identification and state-standardized achievement test scores. RTI adoption reduced special education identification by 1.4 percentage points (11%) and SLD identification by 0.5 percentage points (15%). RTI also caused moderately large reading test score gains for Black students (0.15 SD) and did not reduce other students’ achievement. These findings suggest RTI is a promising approach to supporting struggling students.

From Insight to Impact

  • Systematic approaches, such as RTI, can support students’  literacy development and special education identification if implemented with efficacy.

  • States and districts should collect implementation data on RTI to allow for the evaluation of these efforts

  • States and districts should be mindful of the resource reallocation and professional development issues that are part of shifting to a new method of educating and identifying students with a disability.