In Chicago schools, students with emotional disabilities have poor graduation rates

From The Chicago Sun-Times:

Chicago Public Schools students with behavioral problems are posting the lowest academic performance of all special-education students, with only 18.7 percent of them graduating in four years, a new study by the University of Chicago shows.

Even after five years, less than a quarter of such students graduated -- an "alarmingly low'' rate, according to the study released today by the U. of C.'s Consortium on Chicago School Research.

During their freshman year, CPS students with "emotional disturbances,'' such as behavioral or social interaction problems, on average missed 38 days of class, racked up 4.6 F's in core subjects, and typically posted grade-point averages of 1.1, or a D, the study indicated.

The graduation rates of students with five different kinds of special needs, like those of their regular-ed counterparts, were tightly tied to several key freshman-year indicators -- absences (both excused and unexcused), course failures, number of course credits and GPA -- the study found.

Students with disabilities tended to miss more days than regular-education ones, but for both groups, freshman absences were one of the top predictors of graduation. Its importance outweighed eighth-grade test scores or students' backgrounds.

"The fewer days you are absent, the higher the likelihood that you will graduate,'' said one of the study's authors, Joy Lesnick. "It kinda makes sense. You can't learn if you are not in school.''

However, once the study took absences into account, the course failure rate and grades of most special-ed students were similar to those of non-special-ed ones, researchers said.

The attendance finding is "promising'' because attendance is something that can be improved, with proper support, said Lesnick, who authored the report with the U. of C.'s Julie Gwyne, Holly Hart and Elaine Allensworth.

The second-worst freshman-attendance, course-failure and GPA rates were posted not by ninth-graders with identified disabilities, but by regular-education kids who started ninth grade two years behind academically, the study found. Ninety-five percent of them had never received any special-education services before ninth grade, but their graduation rates indicate they need more attention and support, the study said.

On average, some special-ed students -- those with physical disabilities -- graduated at higher rates than regular-education students. Those results were not surprising, Hart said, because impairments such as deafness or blindness are not academic in nature and are addressed in their classrooms.

However, kids with emotional disturbances often have behavioral issues that impede learning, Lesnick said. They may need not only academic support, but help developing social skills, self-control and self esteem, she said.