Results of a Three Tiered Model Implementation:
The Heartland Early Literacy Project (HELP)
Results: Reduction in New Special Education Identification Rates in 36 Pilot Buildings
To this point, the data that have been examined for the HELP have been primary reading indicator data. Given the positive growth that has been experienced in a majority of participating schools, it is important to also examine the effects of HELP on more global outcome measures. Two, more distal indicators that are under investigation in the HELP project are reductions in rates of initial special education placements and increases in numbers of students in participating schools who are deemed "proficient" on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Iowa's accountability test.
Data will be presented in this report on the reduction in special education placements that have occurred. ITBS proficiency data are currently being compiled, but were not available at the time of completing this report. Data from the initial 36 HELP buildings were collected to illustrate the effects of HELP on special education placement rates. These buildings were selected because they have been in the project and implementing project procedures the longest.
Data on new initial placements were requested from Iowa's central special-education information management system in Cedar Rapids Iowa. Specifically, the request was made for the number of new special education placements that occurred in each participating HELP school building during the years 1996 through 2002. The number of new placements in each grade, K-3 was collected for each HELP building. Then, the number of new placements in each grade level for each project year was summarized by adding together the numbers from all 36 HELP buildings. The resulting coefficients reflect the number of new special education identifications, by grade, for each project year and the three years prior to implementing HELP.
Data from these analyses are presented graphically in Figures 9, 10, 11 and 12.
Figure 9. New Kindergarten Special Education Placements Pre and Post HELP Implementation
Figure 10. New First Grade Special Education Placements Pre and Post HELP Implementation
Figure 11. New Second Grade Special Education Placements Pre and Post HELP Implementation
Figure 12. New Third Grade Special Education Placements Pre and Post HELP Implementation
After implementation of the HELP, participating schools reduced the number of students who were initially placed in special education by 41 percent in kindergarten, 34 percent in first grade, 25 percent in second grade and 19 percent in third grade. These percentages reflect a decrease in initial special education placements for all students for all reasons.
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