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Opportunities for Improvement

• While the rate of placing students with disabilities in separate educational settings has decreased from 10.8 percent in 1995-96 to 8.5 percent in 1999-2000, New York State's rate remains significantly above the 1998-99 national average of 4.1 percent.
• A wide gap exists in State assessment results between the performance of students receiving special education services and their nondisabled peers. For example, on the grade 4 English Language Arts examination, 24 percent of students with disabilities scored at or above Level 3, compared to 64 percent of nondisabled students.
• A greater percentage of minority students are identified as students with disabilities and, once identified, a greater percentage are placed in more restrictive special educational settings.
• Even though more individuals with disabilities are attaining competitive employment after receiving vocational rehabilitation services from VESID, we are still working to realize our goal of helping 20,000 individuals achieve employment.
• The average hourly earnings of individuals with disabilities employed in competitive employment as a ratio to the average hourly earnings of all individuals employed in the State is lower than the national standard and also lower than the national average.
• The service rate for minority individuals with disabilities receiving vocational rehabilitation services as a ratio to the service rate for all non-minority individuals with disabilities is below the national average, even though it is above the national standard.

Previous:  Positive Trends
Next: Goal #1: Students receiving special education services will meet high educational standards.
Pocketbook Index