National Reporting and Students with a Disability in the United States and Australia

Abstract

In many Western countries in the past two decades, there has been considerable general education reform, typically with increased educational accountability through national reporting. The major features of this accountability process, as it has occurred in the United States, are described, with an emphasis on what this has meant for students with a disability. Key features of the process include the provision of significant federal funding contingent on the achievement of specified outcomes; the introduction of a widespread testing regime using standards-based assessment and the reporting of these outcomes at the state, district and school level; and providing access to the regular curriculum to students with a disability unless there is a good reason not to do so. The education reform process in Australia is also described and contrasted with the US movement. A conclusion of the discussion is that the Australian states and territories have been reluctant participants in the reporting process for students with a disability, and that leadership by the Commonwealth is the only likely avenue by which improvements in reporting for these students may come about.