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Chaikind, Stephen and Hope Corman (1991).
The Impact of Low-Birth-Weight on Special-Education Costs.
In: Journal of Health Economics
10(3)
, 291-311
.
Abstract.
Link.
We investigate the relationship between low birthweight, enrollment in special education and special education cost in the U.S. We use a sample of approximately 8,000 children aged 6 to 15 who are in school, calculating the probability of attending special education, holding constant individual, family and regional variables. Children who weighed less than 2,500 grams at birth are almost fifty percent more likely to be enrolled in any type of special education than children who were of normal weight at birth. This results in an incremental cost of special education of $370.8 million (1989–1990) per year due to low birthweight. [close]
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Corman, Hope (2003).
The Effects of State Policies, Individual Characteristics, Family Characteristics, and Neighbourhood Characteristics on Grade Repetition in the United States.
In: Economics of Education Review
22(4)
, 409-420
.
Abstract.
Link.
The study uses a multivariate approach to investigate the effects of state education policies on grade repetition. The policies are: Head Start expenditures, provision of public pre-school handicapped programs, current school expenditures per pupil, provision of special education services, and grade school entrance dates. The effects of these policies are contrasted with the magnitude and significance of individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics. After holding constant state fixed effects, the state-to-state variations in overall school expenditures, special education enrollments of 6–15 year olds, handicapped preschool enrollments, and Head Start allocations are not found to have a significant impact on whether a child repeats a grade. School entrance month has a very large and significant impact on individual students’ probability of having repeated a grade. This impact is due, almost entirely, to the relative age of the student. Thus, overall, variations in state policies are not found to have an impact on rates of school failure. In contrast, individual, family and neighborhood characteristics are all found to have large and significant effects on the probability that a child will repeat a grade. [close]
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Cullen, Julie Berry (2003).
The Impact of Fiscal Incentives on Student Disability Rates.
In: Journal of Public Economics
87(7-8)
, 1557-1589
.
Abstract.
Link.
In this paper, I estimate the elasticity of student disability rates with respect to the generosity of state reimbursements. The classification response is identified from policy-induced variation in the amount of state aid generated by serving a disabled student across local school districts in Texas from 1991-1992 through 1996-1997. My central estimates imply that fiscal incentives can explain nearly 40% of the recent growth in student disability rates in Texas. The magnitude of the institutional response varies by district size and enrollment concentration, student race/ethnicity and the level of fiscal constraint. [close]
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Dalsgaarda, Søren, Maria Humlumb, Helena Nielsen and Marianne Simonsen (2012).
Relative Standards in ADHD Diagnoses: The Role of Specialist Behavior.
In: Economics Letters
117(3)
, 663-665
.
Abstract.
Link.
Recent papers indicate that children who are relatively old-for-grade have a significantly lower incidence of ADHD diagnosis. We find that this is not the case in Denmark, suggesting that diagnoses are less subjective in a regime where only specialists diagnose. [close]
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Devereux, Kathleen (1979).
Meeting special educational needs.
In: Cambridge Journal of Education
9(1)
, 18-22
.
Link.
[close]
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Feess, Eberhard, Gerd Muehlheusser and Markus Walzl (2008).
Unfair Contests.
In: Journal of Economics
93(3)
, 267-291
.
Abstract.
Link.
Real-world contests are often “unfair” in the sense that outperforming all rivals may not be enough to be the winner, because some contestants are favored by the allocation rule, while others are handicapped. This paper analyzes an unfair, two-player discriminatory contest (all-pay auction) with private values. We characterize equilibrium strategies, provide closed form solutions, and illustrate additional strategic issues arising in such unfair contests. [close]
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Fletcher, Jason M. (2011).
The medium term schooling and health effects of low birth weight: Evidence from siblings.
In: Document Economics of Education Review
30
, 517-527
.
Abstract.
Link.
Research has shown that low birth weight is linked to infant mortality as well as longer term outcomes. This paper examines the medium term outcomes that may link low birth weight to adult disadvantage using a national longitudinal sample with a large sample of siblings (Add Health). Results show strong effects on several educational outcomes, including early grade repetition, receipt of special education services, and reports of a learning disability. Results for longer term outcomes are suggestive, though less robust and small in magnitude. Overall, the results suggest that medium term educational disadvantages associated with low birth weight are not driven by family level unobservables and do not accumulate into large long-term disadvantage. [close]
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Hanushek, Eric and Steven Rivkin (1997).
Understanding the Twentieth-Century Growth in US School Spending.
In: Journal of Human Resources
32(1)
, 35-68
.
Abstract.
Link.
Persistent increases in spending on elementary and secondary schools have gone virtually undocumented. Real expenditure per student increased 31/2 percent per year over the period 1890-1990. Decomposition of the spending growth shows that it resulted from a combination of falling pupil-staff ratios, increasing real wages to teachers, and rising expenditure outside of the classroom. Although the expansion of education for the handicapped has had a disproportionate effect on spending, most of the growth in expenditure during the 1980s came from other sources. Significant teacher salary increases, particularly for females, have failed to keep up with wages in other occupations. [close]
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Hanushek, Eric, John Kain and Steven Rivkin (2002).
Inferring Program Effects for Special Populations: Does Special Education Raise Achievement for Students with Disabilities?.
In: Review of Economics and Statistics
84(4)
, 584-599
.
Abstract.
Link.
Most discussion of special education has centered on the costs of providing mandated programs for children with disabilities and not on their effectiveness. As in many other policy areas, inferring program effectiveness is difficult because students not in special education do not provide a good comparison group. By following students who move in and out of targeted programs, however, we are able to identify program effectiveness from changes over time in individual performance. We find that the average special education program significantly boosts mathematics achievement of special-education students, particularly those classified as learning-disabled or emotionally disturbed, while not detracting from regular-education students. These results are estimated quite precisely from models of students and school-by-grade-by-year fixed effects in achievement gains, and they are robust to a series of specification tests. [close]
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Iversen, Jon Marius Vaag (2013).
School accountability reforms and the use of special education.
In: Education Economics
21(3)
, 264-280
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper analyses the relationship between Norwegian school reform implementation and the use of special education. After the introduction of the national reform programme called the ‘Kunnskapsløftet’ (‘Knowledge promotion’) in 2006, the use of special education has increased dramatically in Norway. As part of the national reform, municipalities were encouraged to implement accountability elements in their governing systems. There is evidence that the municipalities have implemented the reform to varying degrees and at different points in time. I exploit these variations in timing to investigate whether the growth in the use of special education reflects the degree of reform implementation in these municipalities. The variation in the timing of reform implementation is exploited by means of the application of a Jacobsen, Lalonde, and Sullivan [1993. “Earning Losses of Displaced Workers.” The American Economic Review 83 (4): 685–709] strategy. I find that increases in the proportion of special-education placements are significantly smaller in municipalities with a high degree of reform implementation. [close]
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Johnson, William and James Lambrinos (1985).
Wage Discrimination against Handicapped Men and Women.
In: The Journal of Human Resources
20(2)
, 264-277
.
Abstract.
Link.
The extent of discrimination against handicapped men and women is estimated in this paper. Observed wage differentials are corrected for selectivity bias. The results indicate that almost one-third of the wage differential for men and close to one-half for women can be attributed to discrimination. Interestingly, handicapped women are also subjected to sex discrimination. [close]
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Jones, Melanie and Paul Latreille (2010).
Disability and Earnings: Are Employer Characteristics Important?.
In: Economics Letters
106(3)
, 191-194
.
Abstract.
Link.
We use matched employee–employer data from Britain to assess the influence of disability-specific workplace policies and practices on the earnings of disabled workers. The presence of equal opportunities policies increases the relative wages of disabled workers, but this is partially offset by the negative influence of workplace accommodations. [close]
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Keslair, Francois, Eric Maurin and Sandra McNally (2012).
Every child matters? An evaluation of "Special Educational Needs" programmes in England.
In: Economics of Education Review
31
, 932-948
.
Abstract.
Link.
The need for education to help every child has become more important for policy in the US and the UK. Remedial programmes are often difficult to evaluate because participation is usually based on pupil characteristics that are largely unobservable to the analyst. We evaluate programmes for children with ‘Special Educational Needs’ in England. We show that the decentralized design of the policy generates much stronger differences across schools in access to remediation resources for children with moderate learning difficulties than for children with either no difficulties or severe difficulties. However, these differences are not reflected in subsequent educational attainment – suggesting that the programme is ineffective for children with moderate learning difficulties. Also, we use demographic variation within schools to consider the effect of the programme on whole year groups. Our analysis is consistent with no overall effect on account of the combined direct and indirect (spillover) effects. [close]
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Kleinert, Harold, Diane Browder and Elizabeth Towles-Reeves (2009).
Models of Cognition for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities: Implications for Assessment.
In: Review of Educational Research
79(1)
, 301-326
.
Abstract.
Link.
This article addresses the application of the assessment triangle developed by the National Research Council (Pellegrino, Chudowsky, & Glaser, 2001), most specifically the cognition vertex of that triangle, to the unique learning characteristics of students with significant cognitive disabilities in developing and demonstrating academic competence. Given the inclusion of all students, including students with significant cognitive disabilities, in measures of large-scale educational assessment and accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act, it is essential to examine how the primary elements of knowledge representation and competence identified by Pellegrino et al. for all students have special ramifications for students with significant cognitive disabilities. It is only in the development of such a model of competence that it is possible to construct alternate assessments for these students that validly represent what these students know and can do. [close]
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Kluve, Jochen (2010).
The effectiveness of European active labor market programs.
In: Labour Economics
17
, 904-918
.
Abstract.
Link.
Active Labor Market Programs are widely used in European countries, but despite many econometric evaluation studies analyzing particular programs no conclusive cross-country evidence exists regarding “what program works for what target group under what (economic and institutional) circumstances?”. This paper aims at answering this question using a meta-analysis based on a data set that comprises 137 program evaluations from 19 countries. The empirical results of the meta-analysis are surprisingly clear-cut: Rather than contextual factors such as labor market institutions or the business cycle, it is almost exclusively the program type that seems to matter for program effectiveness. While direct employment programs in the public sector frequently appear detrimental, wage subsidies and “Services and Sanctions” can be effective in increasing participants' employment probability. Training programs – the most commonly used type of active policy – show modestly positive effects. [close]
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Lambrinos, James (1981).
Health: A Source of Bias in Labor Supply Models.
In: The Review of Economics and Statistics
63(2)
, 206-212
.
Link.
[close]
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Longhi, Simonetta, Cheti Nicoletti and Lucinda Platt (2012).
Interpreting Wage Gaps of Disabled Men: The Roles of Productivity and of Discrimina-tion..
In: Southern Economic Journal
78
, 931-953
.
Abstract.
Link.
Using the UK Labour Force Survey, we study wage gaps for disabled men after the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act. We estimate wage gaps at the mean and at different quantiles of the wage distribution and decompose them into a part explained by differences in workers' and job characteristics, a part that can be ascribed to health-related reduced productivity, and a residual part. The large original wage gaps reduce substantially when we control for differences in education and occupation, although significant residuals remain. However, when we isolate productivity differences between disabled and nondisabled workers, the residual wage gap becomes insignificant in most cases. [close]
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McGee, Andrew (2011).
Skills, standards, and disabilities: How youth with learning disabilities fare in high school and beyond.
In: Economics of Education Review
30
, 109-129
.
Abstract.
Link.
Learning disabled youth in the Child and Young Adult samples of the NLSY79 are more likely to graduate from high school than peers with the same measured cognitive ability, a difference that cannot be explained by differences in noncognitive skills, families, or school resources. Instead, I find that learning disabled students graduate from high school at higher rates than youth with the same cognitive abilities because of high school graduation policies that make it easier for learning disabled youth to obtain a high school diploma. The effects of these graduation policies are even more remarkable given that I find evidence that learning disabled youth have less unmeasured human capital than observationally equivalent youth as after high school they are less likely to be employed or continue on to college and earn less than their observationally equivalent non-learning disabled peers. [close]
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Nakosteen, Robert, Olle Westerlund and Michael Zimmer (2005).
Health-Related Disabilities and Matching of Spouses: Analysis of Swedish Population Data.
In: Journal of Population Economics
18(3)
, 491-507
.
Abstract.
Link.
Recent research concerning the incidence of reported work-limiting disabilities in the married population indicates a degree of interdependence between spouses' disabilities. This pattern is consistent with several hypotheses. Spouses tend to share many lifestyle traits that might lead to common health outcomes. Alternatively, their joint reports might reflect a shared preference for income benefits or workplace accommodations available to disabled individuals. Another possibility is that disabled individuals tend to be matched in the process of marital formation. This paper investigates the latter hypothesis. Taking advantage of a unique data set from the Swedish population, we select a sample of recently married couples and trace them back in time to their single years. Our analysis indicates nonrandom matching on the basis of disability status. After controlling for observed traits such as age and education, we find a residual correlation between future spouses that is positive and strongly significant. The magnitude of the correlation is within the range of residual correlations obtained from other studies that address marital matching in the contexts of education and earnings. [close]
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Nilsen, Sven (2017).
Special education and general education – coordinated or separated? A study of curriculum planning for pupils with special educational needs.
In: International Journal of Inclusive Education
21(2)
, 205-217
.
Abstract.
Link.
The central issue of this article is the coordination between special and general education in curriculum planning for pupils with special educational needs. The focus is on individual education plans (IEPs) in special education and work plans in general education. This is also viewed in relation to how special and general education teachers cooperate on planning. The analysis is based on a qualitative interview study with special and general education teachers in four primary and lower secondary schools in two municipalities. A clear pattern is shown in the study, where curriculum planning for special and general education is not very coordinated and cooperation between special and general education teachers is often very limited. Thus, curriculum planning within special and general education appears to be more separated than coordinated. The two groups of teachers appear to adopt traditional and partly separate roles, and tend to plan individually rather than together. Responsibility for the education of pupils with special needs seems to be more divided than shared. [close]
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Penketh, Claire (2016).
Special educational needs and art and design education: plural perspectives on exclusion.
In: Journal of Education Policy
31(4)
, 432-442
.
Abstract.
Link.
Education policy proposals by the UK Coalition government appeared to be based on a process of consultation, participation and representation. However, policy formation seems to prioritise and confirm particular ways of knowing and being in the world. This article recognises the ontological and epistemological invalidation at work in education policy by examining the shared context for policy formation in special educational needs (SEN/D) and art and design education. There is value in recognising plurality, acknowledging the ways in which apparently singular policies relating to special education are understood through subject or disciplinary perspectives. The neoliberal aim to foster an economically productive ‘subject’ is evident in policy formation relating to art and design education as well as SEN/D. Both subjects, the disabled child and art and design education, are defined as excessive and are excluded where they do not conform to particular notions of productivity. The article explores theoretical frameworks that are essential for recognising meaning in education when subjects cannot be put to work. [close]
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Phleps, Allen and Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell (1997).
School-To-Work Transitions for Youth with Disabilities: A Review of Outcomes and Practices.
In: Reviw of Educational Research
67(2)
, 197-226
.
Abstract.
Link.
This review examined employment and postsecondary education outcomes for youth with disabilities leaving secondary schools, as well as studies of educational practices reporting high-quality outcomes. Analytical considerations included the current initiatives in educational reform that emphasize the improvement of career-related outcomes for all students and the inclusion of youth with disabilities in regular classes. While school- and employment-related outcomes for youth with disabilities continue to be problematic when compared with those for nondisabled youth, two educational practices appear to consistently align with higher-quality outcomes for students. The promising practices that merit attention in improving programs and in advancing the knowledge base include school supervised work experiences and functionally oriented curricula in which occupationally specific skills, employability skills, and academic skills are systematically connected for students. The educational reform literature indicates that valued outcomes for all students are focusing more prominently on workplace and transition outcomes, and that educational practices supported with documented evidence from the secondary special education literature are viewed by many authors as promising directions for improving secondary education for all students. [close]
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Plecki, Margaret (1995).
Efficacy of an Early Intervention Education-Program for Moderately Handicapped Infant.
In: Economics of Education Review
14(4)
, 417-424
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper focuses on the evaluation of special education services for handicapped infants. The research question posed is whether early intervention programming results in reduced need for specialized services when children are age-eligible for elementary school. The primary focus of the paper is the development-of a predictive model which may be useful in assessing the efficacy of early intervention services. The predictive model is applied using longitudinal data from a small sample of moderately handicapped infants. The preliminary findings support the contention that earlier intervention results in a lessened need for special education services in subsequent years. The paper also discusses the benefit-cost issues related to the efficacy question under investigation. [close]
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Uppal, Sharanjit (2005).
Demand for Home Modifications / Specialized Features: the Case of Disabled.
In: Applied Economics
37(17)
, 1991-1999
.
Abstract.
Link.
Existing research dealing with the presence of modifications in the homes of individuals with disabilities in Canada has found severity of disability to be negatively related to the demand for modifications, a result that appears to be counterintuitive. In this paper, a model is estimated using data from the 1991 Health and Activity Limitation Survey conducted by Statistics Canada. The results show that severity of disability has a strong positive effect on the demand for modifications/specialized features both inside a residence and those used to access a residence. [close]
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Winters, Marcus A. and Jay P. Greene (2011).
Public School Response to Special Education Vouchers.
In: Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
The Impact of Florida’s McKay Scholarship Program on Disability Diagnosis and Student Achievement in Public Schools
33
, 138-158
.
Abstract.
Link.
The authors expand on research evaluating public school response to school choice policies by considering the particular influence of voucher programs for disabled students—a growing type of choice program that may have different implications for public school systems from those of more conventional choice programs. The authors provide a theoretical framework to show that special education vouchers could influence both school quality and the likelihood that a school will choose to identify the marginal child as disabled. Using a rich panel data set from Florida, the authors find some evidence that competition from a voucher program for disabled students decreased the likelihood that a student was diagnosed as having a mild disability and was positively related to academic achievement in the public schools. [close]
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Wuellrich, Jean-Philippe (2010).
The Effects of Increasing Financial Incentives for Firms to Promote Employment of Disabled Workers.
In: Economics Letters
107(2)
, 173-176
.
Abstract.
Link.
I study the effect of an increase in financial incentives for firms to hire disabled workers in the context of an employment quota. My results suggest that this increase had a positive impact on firms' demand for disabled workers. [close]