Education Week - Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2015 - (Page 5)
In College, Students Face Choice:
Seek Help or Go It Alone?
Many students prefer to keep their disability status to themselves
Aurora, Colo.
O
n paper, it looks
simple. But Stefanie
Smith's individualized
education
program
can't really capture
what it feels
like to spend an
entire school day on a college-admissions
test that is only supposed
to take four hours. It doesn't convey
the anxiety that her dyslexia might
trip her up on the driving test and
she will have to continue to rely on
her mother for rides. Or the joy of
discovering that German is a phonetic
language and that she could
read an entire novel-Homo Faber
by Max Frisch-in a language other
than the one that has been making
her head ache since she first figured
out she was the only one in her kindergarten
class who could not yet
spell her own name.
Mostly, the iep contains statements:
brief, declarative, and stark.
"Stefanie," reads the document,
"will attend a four-year college or
university and study finance or
business."
"I helped [my sister] move into her
dorm when I was a sophomore," said
the subject of the iep, who is now
an 18-year-old senior at Grandview
High School in the 54,500-student
Cherry Creek district near Denver.
"I said, I really want to go to college."
At one time, a wish like that might
have remained unfulfilled. As recently
as 1995, just over a quarter
of students with disabilities had
enrolled in postsecondary education
within four years of graduating from
high school. But between 1990 and
2005, college-enrollment rates for
students with disabilities increased
by 19 percentage points, according
to data from two federally funded
studies that tracked post-school outcomes
for youths with disabilities.
By contrast, during that same period,
overall college-enrollment rates
increased just 9 percentage points.
The federal data show 67 percent of
all youths and 60 percent of those
with disabilities enroll in college
within eight years of leaving high
school.
OFF THE RADAR
Who are those students and what
happens once they leave school?
It's not always easy to say. When
children are younger, the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act
places the onus on the elementary or
secondary school to identify, evaluate,
and serve students with special
needs. But in postsecondary education,
the onus is on the student to
identify him- or herself as having
special needs and to seek assistance.
The problem is, once students reach
college, most (63 percent) no longer
consider themselves disabled, according
to the longitudinal study data.
The nondisclosure rate is even higher
for students with learning disabilities
like Stefanie's. Those students make
up the single biggest category of secondary
and postsecondary students
with disabilities and 69 percent no
longer consider themselves disabled
once they reach college.
Although Jacquelyn Smith is
quick to say her dyslexia is less severe
than that of her younger sister
Stefanie, she also had an iep in high
school. But when she graduated
from Grandview, in spring 2012,
Jacquelyn left it behind.
"I rebelled against it," said the
older sister, who is now 21. "I didn't
want it to hold me back. I think I
wanted to see if I could do it on my
own."
Metropolitan State University of
Denver, known for its inclusivity, has
a "modified open enrollment" policy
and Jacquelyn had been accepted,
with a 2.7 high school gpa and an
act score of 17 out of 36. Although
she had qualified for extended time,
she said she had filled in the bubbles
randomly and finished early, rushing
to go hang out with friends.
The acceptance letter did come
with a caveat: Jacquelyn had been
admitted on the condition that she
successfully complete the university's
Summer Scholars Program,
which targets those on the cusp of
meeting university-entrance requirements,
regardless of whether
they have a disability.
STUDY STRATEGIES
In a paper presented this spring at
the American Educational Research
Association's annual conference, researchers
used the longitudinal data
to contrast the college-completion
rates of two groups of students with
learning disabilities and two groups
of students who were deaf or hard of
hearing.
For each disability category, both
groups were similar but for one
exception: One group obtained disability-specific
assistance, which
students can receive only if they
tell their college of their disability.
The other did not.
The researchers found no significant
difference between the assisted
group and those who were
on their own for students with
learning disabilities, although
they did find one for students who
were deaf or hard of hearing.
But what did make a difference for
students with learning disabilities
were the types of supports available
to them and nondisabled students
alike-supports such as tutoring,
PAGE 6 >
Jacquelyn Smith, right, a
senior at Metropolitan State
University of Denver, helps
her younger sister, Stefanie
Smith, get ready for her high
school prom in Aurora, Colo.
Both sisters have dyslexia
and made plans for college
after high school. But only
Stefanie is choosing to
request study
accommodations for her
disability.
DIPLOMAS COUNT 2015 s www.edweek.org/go/dc15
5
Ellen Jaskol for Education Week
By Holly Yettick
http://www.edweek.org/go/dc15
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2015
Education Week - Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2015
Inside
After Special Ed., Path Is Less Certain
DATA OVERVIEW: Students with Disabilities In School and Work
BY THE NUMBERS: Hearing Impairment
Md. Senior Opts For University Geared To Students With Hearing Impairments
In College, Students Face Choice: Seek Help or Go It Alone?
BY THE NUMBERS: Emotional Disturbance
At Lab School, Pennsylvania Student Prepares for Career In Culinary Arts
After K-12, Students Must Be Self-Advocates
BY THE NUMBERS: Specific Learning Disability
On Road to College, Georgia Student Learns To Speak for Herself
For Job-Oriented Students, Work Experience Is Critical
Discipline Policies Push Students Off College-and-Career Path
BY THE NUMBERS: Autism
Budding Politician Sets Sights on College
State Diploma Requirements Vary
Common Core: Will Bar Rise For Students With Disabilities?
BY THE NUMBERS: Intellectual Disability
In Virginia, Jobs Enable Twin Brothers To ‘Walk Taller’ After High School
Graduation Rates Reach New Highs, But Gaps Remain
TABLE: Graduation Rate Tops 80 Percent
State-by-State Data
Education Week - Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2015
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