Across the U.S., there are persistent gaps between students with disabilities and students without disabilities in a range of academic, graduation, and postschool outcomes. But there are schools in which students with disabilities outperform expectations.
What are these schools doing that helps them, and their students with disabilities, to be successful? And how can their approaches be implemented at other schools?
To address these questions, the PROGRESS Center investigated lessons learned from schools serving children in Grades K–8 that were beating the odds (BTO) for students with individualized education programs (IEPs) based on test scores from 2018–19 and 2021–22. The mixed methods study identified a set of states where students with disabilities made progress on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) in recent years and used school-level state assessment data and demographic data to identify schools where students with disabilities outperformed similar schools within the same state. Following the identification of schools, focus groups and interviews were conducted with special educators, general educators, and school leaders to better understand the practices, programs and policies that contributed to their successes.
What we found is that the schools that are beating the odds do not have a “silver-bullet” solution—they are prioritizing five essential elements:
- student belonging,
- evidence-based general education instruction and supports,
- individualized instruction and supports,
- staff collaboration, and
- educator supports.
All five elements are facilitated by effective leadership, high expectations, data literacy, family engagement, and collective efficacy. Visit Building a Successful System to learn more about these elements and find related resources to support implementation.
Access the report and review presentations from Prepping for PROGRESS 2025 to learn more about this work.
