Special Education Outcomes and Young Australian School Students: A Propensity Score Analysis Replication

Abstract

Using a second cohort of Australian school students, this study repeated the propensity score analysis reported by Dempsey, Valentine, and Colyvas (2016) that found that 2 years after receiving special education support, a group of infant grade students performed significantly less well in academic and social skills in comparison to matched groups of students who did not receive support. Using Longitudinal Study of Australian Children data, the present study found that the second cohort of students with additional needs also performed less well than matched groups of peers and that these results also held true for the specific subgroup of these children with learning disability/learning problems. The ramifications of these results to the delivery of special education in Australia are discussed.