Supporting Students with Disabilities During the Pandemic: Rural Districts Least Likely to Provide Information
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Missouri districts—and districts nationwide—were forced into a virtual education model of which they had previously never explored. For students receiving special education services (about 14% of the student body in Missouri), districts knew little about how to maintain their educational goals or how their progress would be impacted. In this policy brief, we provide an overview of how federally mandated special education services translate to virtual educational environments and examine how Missouri districts communicated information regarding these services in their Fall 2020 reopening plans. We find:
Nearly one-third of districts provided no information for students with individualized education plans (IEPs).
Very few districts (11%) provided detailed or highly detailed plans for special education students and families.
Districts serving a higher proportion of students with IEPs were more likely to communicate support plans.
Rural districts were the least likely to mention students with IEPs in their reopening plans while serving, on average, the highest proportion of IEP students.
Over half (57%) of districts that started fully in-person, commonly rural districts, provided no information about support plans for students with IEPs.
