1. CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Trends in CT’s
Special Education Population Data
Diane Murphy
Performance Office
September 12th, 2017

2. Agenda CT Overall Prevalence Rate trends
History
Calculation
Prevalence Trends by Disability
Where are the rate of change greatest
Discussion of Contributing factors
What supports exist and what supports are needed by LEAs?

3. Connecticut K-12 Special Education Prevalence Rate
CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

4. Initial Reactions
What are the top 3 factors contributing to the increase in special education identification?
Have you seen increases in parent generated referrals? Staff referrals? Pre-K Child Find referrals?
Mental Health
Prek Behavior
Autism
Misidentification

5. Prevalence Calculation
Count of K-12 Students with Disabilities
Count of All K-12 Students
CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

6. Prevalence Numerators & Denominators
YEAR
Special Education Prevalence
K-12 Special Education Count
All K-12 Student Count
11.5%
64,375
559,500
11.6%
64,187
555,411
63,968
551,461
63,486
548,052
11.7%
63,651
541,727
12.1%
65,096
537,595
12.4%
66,132
532,320
13.0%
68,445
527,832
13.4%
70,055
522,906
13.9%
72,420
519,885

7. Prevalence Numerators & Denominators

8. Prevalence Counts: Rate of Change

9. Where is the change occurring?
CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

10. Rate of Change 3-5 year olds
CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

11. Rate of Change Overall SWD
CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

12. Rate of Change by Disability Category

13. Rate of Change by Disability - Increasing
CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

14. Rate of Change by Disability - Decreasing
CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

15. Follow-up Questions
What impact if any has dyslexia legislation had on your LD identification rates?
What identification guidelines need updating/ revisions to assist with appropriate identification for special education?
Mental Health
Prek Behavior
Autism
Misidentification

16. Significant Disproportionality
CT Disproportionality Trends
CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

17. Follow-up Questions
Do you have an over-identification/misidentification issue within your district?
Overall special ed or by specific disability category?
By race?
How about within the EL population?
Have you seen an increase in:
Parent generated referrals?
Staff referrals?
Pre-K child find referrals?
Mental Health
Prek Behavior
Autism
Misidentification

18. Identification Process
Is there consensus about the identification process across your whole district (across schools, grade levels, etc.)?
What data are being monitored/examined within your district to help ensure appropriate identification?
How is your Tier 1 SRBI Process working to support your district to avoid inappropriate identification?
What areas need to be addressed?
Training?
Specialized/specific reading interventions? Staffing?

19. Identification Process
What strategies exist to help monitor prevalence and identification within your district?
What supports, documents or data are needed by districts to support the monitoring of identification and special education prevalence?
CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

20. Special Education Population Data
Questions?
CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION