USCCB Study on Children with Special Needs
Catholic School Students with Disabilities
A research study commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
KEY FINDINGS
Finding #1:
Catholic schools serve special needs children in all disability areas.
- Catholic schools serve special needs students in similar proportions to public schools.
- Seven percent of students in Catholic schools are children with disabilities, as compared
to 11.4 percent of students in public schools who are children with disabilities.
- Catholic schools enroll a greater percentage of children with hearing impairment,
developmental delay, speech/language, uncorrected vision impairment,
traumatic brain injury and other health impairments than public schools.
|
Finding #2:
The Child Find process is inconsistent and difficult to access for parents
of children in Catholic schools suspected of having a disability.
- The implementation of the Child Find process is fragmented at best and inhospitable to
children enrolled in Catholic schools.
- The process of disability identification on the local level often deviates
from federal law and guidance and from written state and local school district policies.
|
Finding #3:
Catholic school children are less likely to be diagnosed with a disability by a public
school evaluator than through a private evaluator.
- Six percent of Catholic school students suspected of having a disability and referred to public school
evaluators were denied an evaluation.
- Seventy-two percent of Catholic school students tested through the public schools were diagnosed with a disability.
- Catholic school students, who were denied an evaluation or were evaluated by the public schools
and found not to have a disability, were frequently evaluated outside of the public school system.
Of these two groups of students, 90 percent were found to have a disability by a private evaluator.
|
Finding #4:
Catholic school children with disabilities appear to be enrolled in roughly the same proportion
by ethnicity as their non-disabled peers.
- Caucasian children are 74.4 percent of the Catholic school population
and make up 79 percent of the children with disabilities.
- Hispanic children are 10.9 percent of the Catholic school
population and make up 9 percent of the children with disabilities.
- African-American children are 8 percent of the Catholic school
population and make up 8 percent of the children with disabilities.
|
Finding #5:
Catholic school students diagnosed as having a disability are not
receiving services through IDEA sufficient to adequately address their disability.
- Less than 1 percent (0.74%) of Catholic school students diagnosed
with a disability receives services funded through IDEA.
- Of the few children served, 88 percent of IDEA services go to
children with speech/language disorders or learning disabilities.
- The remaining 12 percent of services go to the 28 percent of
Catholic school students that are children with other disabilities.
|
Finding #6:
Catholic school teachers, counselors, and administrators utilize innovative
strategies for accommodating students with disabilities, even in the absence of IDEA services.
- Catholic school teachers, counselors, and administrators cooperate to provide
services to the children who need them.
- Resource room/pullout programs and in-class accommodations are the primary
means of providing services.
- Thirty-four percent of all services provided to disabled students enrolled
in Catholic schools are funded through Catholic school tuition.
|
Conclusion:
According to both statistical and anecdotal information we have gathered, parents who choose
a Catholic education for their special needs child will ultimately
pay the majority of special education and related services costs
out-of-pocket, in addition to tuition at the school. We believe
that parents of special needs children should not have to choose
between a Catholic education and accessing IDEA services only
through a public school. No other federal program forces this
choice on parents. While Catholic schools have continually
increased their capacity to provide these needed services, these
students continue to need IDEA services that, unfortunately, are
largely unavailable to them. USCCB is proposing specific statutory
language that we believe will correct this situation.
Click for the FULL STUDY.
|