Special education practices: An evaluation of educational environmental placement trends since the Regular Education Initiative

This study examined the nature and extent of state and national placement trends of students with disabilities outside general education in the decade following the Regular Education Initiative (REI). Specifically, it compared state and national trends across disability categories, settings, and age groups, assessed temporal relationships between changes in placement rates and the implementation of federal education reforms, policies or legislation, and investigated factors state level special education administrators considered contributory to demonstrated placement trends.;Visual and quantitative analyses of archival data collected from OSEP databases and Annual Reports to Congress on the Implementation of the IDEA were employed. Placement trends and changes in placement rates were evaluated within age groups, across settings, and between disability categories from 1989 to 1999. Changes in placement rates following the implementation of the REI, Goals 2000, and 1990 and 1997 reauthorizations of the IDEA were also completed. Survey queries, sent to state level special education administers, generated data on the factors perceived to have influenced placement trends demonstrated within their respective state.;Study results indicated that small, but significant changes in placement trends occurred in the decade following the REI. Movement toward greater inclusion in less segregated settings was evident. Placement trends of elementary aged students differed from those of secondary aged students and across disability categories. Placement trends evident in aggregated national data differed substantially from trends evident in individual state data. Temporal associations of placement rate changes with the implementation of federal educational reforms considered varied; however, increased use of less segregated settings was evident for at least one disability category and age group in at least 50% of states following the implementation of each reform. Finally, survey results identified state level policies, litigation, funding, and parental wishes as factors of greater influence than federal policies on placement practices.