News Update

Students with disabilities need extra support as schools reopen, groups say

Thursday
June 10, 2021
4:06 pm
Carolyn Jones

Schools should consider extending the school year, increasing tutoring and taking other steps — especially over the summer — to help students enrolled in special education catch up academically as they return to campus, advocacy groups said this week.

High-quality academic support, assessments, activities and camps are among the services that schools should offer to students with disabilities after months of distance learning, according to the recommendations by the National Center for Learning Disabilities and research by NWEA, a research organization that focuses on education assessments.

“While the research did not study the impact of Covid-19 on students with disabilities, it does highlight implications that will need attention given the past year we have had,” said Elizabeth Barker, accessibility research manager at NWEA and co-author of the study. “And now with summer coming, this is a heads-up to teachers that we’re headed for a possible dip and extended school year policies may need to be leveraged.”

Remote learning was a particular challenge for students in special education because so many specialized services, such as speech or occupational therapy, are difficult to deliver virtually. According to NWEA’s research, students with disabilities generally tend to lose more ground academically during the summer months than their non-disabled peers.

The groups also recommended that schools improve their identification of and support for children with disabilities in kindergarten.

Barker and her colleagues studied more than 4,000 elementary-age students over a five-year period. They found that students with disabilities typically had lower reading and math scores in kindergarten, but in later years actually showed greater growth than their non-disabled classmates.

“I think it’s important for teachers to know that students with disabilities are growing and learning,” Barker said. “It means teachers are doing a great job. Your supports are working.”