Special Education
Westat is conducting several studies for the U.S. Department of Education that assess the impact of
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The studies are funded through the Office of Special Education
Programs (OSEP), the National Center for Special Education Research, and the National Center for Education Evaluation.
- The Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS) is designed to describe the
results of preschool special education and guide programs and services to improve those results.
Westat project staff will follow a national sample of almost 3,000 preschoolers with disabilities for 6 years. The study
will examine the following issues for children:
- Preschool experiences,
- Transition to kindergarten, and
- Early elementary school experiences and results.
- Personnel Preparation Performance Reporting Support focuses on students trained through OSEP's
personnel preparation program. The personnel preparation program uses discretionary grants
to support activities that provide individuals with the knowledge and skills to effectively serve children with disabilities.
Westat collects and analyzes data to determine the number and characteristics of students trained though
this program, as well as the outcomes of their training.
- The Personnel Development Program (PDP) Evaluation will describe courses of study at institutions of higher
education that directly prepare personnel to serve children with disabilities. Westat is collecting and
analyzing data from all funded and nonfunded applicants to 2006 and 2007 PDP priorities focused on direct preparation of
personnel. The evaluation will also assess the quality of products and services provided by PDP-funded national centers that
directly or indirectly support the development and learning of children with disabilities.
- The National Assessment Implementation Study (NAIS) will build an understanding of how state early intervention
and special education agencies and school districts are implementing the provisions of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA). Westat collected information from all state education agencies and a
nationally representative sample of school districts.
- The Center to Improve Project Performance (CIPP) is providing summative evaluation oversight
to 12 OSEP-funded projects in planning and executing their summative evaluations. CIPP staff is overseeing project summative
evaluation activities and providing technical assistance, as needed, to the grantees by selecting samples; developing draft
instruments; monitoring data collection and performing reliability checks; analyzing study data; providing accurate descriptions
of the methods and valid interpretations of findings; and organizing, reviewing, and editing final project evaluation reports.
- The National Evaluation of IDEA Technical Assistance & Dissemination (TA&D) Program is a 5-year
evaluation of the OSEP TA&D grant program. The evaluation will describe the program and the services it
provides to state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs). It will also examine
implementation of these activities among districts receiving intensive technical assistance at two time points. Westat
will design and administer web-based surveys of TA&D program grantees, three groups of SEA respondents, and
a national sample of approximately 2,000 LEAs, and will analyze the data and report on the findings.
For more information about the Education Research Area,
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