Academic achievement of students with disabilities in co-teaching, resource room, and support facilitation models

Since the passage of Public Law 94-142 (The Education of All Handicapped Children Act) which is currently called the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), there has been a movement to service students with disabilities in more inclusive environments. The Broward County School District had been involved in the State of Florida's effort to reform the special education funding model and the delivery of services to students in more inclusive environments since 1994. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of three delivery models, resource room, co-teaching, and support facilitation, on the reading and math achievement of students with mild to moderate disabilities. The subjects of this study consisted of 231 students with mild to moderate disabilities enrolled in 29 schools and serviced in one of these three delivery models. Their achievement was measured during the 1998--1999 school year based upon the results of a nationally normed achievement test. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) as well as an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was performed using the spring of 1998 test scores as baseline data or covariates and the spring of 1999 scores as dependent or criterion variables. The independent variable was the type of delivery model. The results did not reveal any statistically significant differences in the achievement of the students in any of the three models thus indicating that in this study, the type of model did not have a significant impact on the achievement of these students. Implications based upon limitations as well as recommendations for further study are presented.