When kids came back to school, students with disabilities, already far behind in most areas of academic achievement, scored significantly lower on assessments than they had before the pandemic.
A study published last month also shows close to a 25 percent decline in the number of Washington students typically evaluated for a disability from March 2020 to early in the 2021-22 school year.
From March 2018 to February 2020, 36,842 Washington state elementary students were identified for special education services. Approximately 8,500 fewer students were evaluated in the following two years, according to the report from the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, a research center based at the American Institutes for Research.
This decline could mean that thousands of students didn't get accommodations for a disability that may have severely impacted their ability to do schoolwork. The report focused on evaluations in grades K-5, critical years for learning how to read and do math. Research shows that special education services are generally beneficial for children.
"It's worth worrying about this group of students, and what that means for their schooling long-term," said Dan Goldhaber, an author on the report.
A few things to note: The rate of evaluations did recover to prepandemic levels during the 2021-22 school year, but that didn't address the 8,500-student gap. And the report did not address enrollment declines that happened in many districts during the pandemic.
Data from Michigan and a national report suggests the same declining trend. The number of students receiving special education services (around 15 percent of kids) dropped by 1 percent during the two years following the start of the pandemic. It was the first time in a decade federal officials had seen a drop in that figure.
It's a significant finding as school districts are spending down the last of their pandemic relief aid dollars, a portion of which was earmarked for learning setbacks. It's unclear how much of this aid was spent toward missed services for special education.
A state audit released this month also focused on how to address chronic turnover among and shortages of special education teachers, an issue that could have contributed to the decline in evaluations, Goldhaber said.
Outside of the pandemic, "there are very widespread problems of students waiting years to be evaluated," said state Rep. Gerry Pollet, D- Seattle, who proposed a bill last year to adjust the timelines for districts to evaluate students with disabilities. He said he is planning to propose a similar bill in the next legislative session.
"That would be very valuable evidence," he said of the report.
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