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Author: Lichtenstein, Steve - Zantal-Wiener, Kathy
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children Reston VA. Special Education Dropouts. ERIC Digest #451. POPULATION Recent state and local follow-up studies confirm this unexplainable attrition rate among students with handicaps. These studies also strongly suggest that the dropout rate among students receiving special education services significantly exceeds the dropout rate among the general school-age population. The St. Paul Public Schools conducted a retrospective examination of the records of 4,500 students in attendance between 1974 and 1977 who left school prior to graduation. They found that up to 80% of the youths who dropped out may have been eligible for special education services. Hippolitus (1980) cited the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped as documenting the dropout rate for special education students at five to six times the rate of youths without handicaps. IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The implications of these findings have special significance for educational policy and practice. More systematic procedures for identifying potential dropouts and better follow-through in providing comprehensive programs that retain students with handicaps must be addressed. | |
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