Disability Policy
Program Manager - Ellen SchillerSRI’s current research related to policies and programs that affect persons with disabilities extends across the age range, including early childhood, school-age children, and those in transition to young adulthood. The range of methods applied in the work of the Disability Policy program includes rigorous quantitative analysis, observations, focus groups, in-person interviews, and case studies.
The backbone of the program is a portfolio of longitudinal studies that document the characteristics, experiences, and achievements of children and youth. These studies identify policies, services, and practices that are associated with better results, both in and out of school. They involve a variety of data collection approaches, including computer-assisted telephone interviews, mail surveys of educators, direct assessments of students’ skills and content knowledge, and abstraction of information from school records. A unique feature of these studies is that they address services and results for the entire spectrum of students receiving special education, including those with cognitive, physical, sensory, and emotional disabilities.
Other projects evaluate specific programs and models and their impacts on the children and youth with disabilities whom they serve, and their families. SRI serves as the coordination center for two multiproject intervention programs and directly conducts randomized trials of specific interventions. Another important aspect of the program’s work involves providing technical assistance to states in developing outcome measurement systems for early intervention programs serving young children with disabilities and their families. The Early Childhood Outcome (ECO) Center is the cornerstone of a portfolio of state technical assistance activities.
Current Projects
- Early Childhood Outcomes (ECO) Center
- Early Intervention Graduates at Kindergarten: Analyses of Outcomes from the National Early Intervention Longitudinal Study
- ENHANCE: Promoting Quality Child Outcomes Data
- First 5 San Mateo County Comprehensive Evaluation Services
- First 5 San Mateo’s Special Needs Project Evaluation Services
- Secondary Analysis of Head Start Data
- National Effectiveness Study of First Step to Success
- Partnerships with States to Develop Early Childhood Outcome Measurement Systems (Colorado, Florida, Hawaii)
- Technical Assistance for Improving the Oklahoma Modified Alternate Assessment Program (OMAAP)
- IDEA National Assessment Analytic Support
- Model Demonstration Coordination Center (MDCC)
- National Behavior Research Coordination Center (NBRCC)
- National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2)
- The National Study on Alternate Assessments
- Impact Evaluation of Response to Intervention (RtI) Strategies
- What Works Clearinghouse
Past Projects
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