An Analysis of Placement and Exit Patterns of Students with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

Abstract

The authors analyzed student data from the U.S. Department of Education's Annual Reports to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to assess patterns and trends in the educational placement of students with emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD), as well as their means of school exit and the relationship between educational placement and school exit. The data indicate an increasing trend in educating students with E/BD in general education classrooms that mirrors a similar increase for all students with disabilities, although the overall rate of general class placement remains lower for students with E/BD (27%) than for students with other disabilities (50%). The link between placement and graduation or dropout rates was also explored, but these relationships are interpreted with extreme caution given that they are aggregations of state-level data. Suggestions are offered for future research and analysis of placement and exit patterns of students with E/BD.