The Law Center was selected by the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council from a competitive pool of applicants to receive a multi-year grant in the amount of $213,000 to create Inclusive Education Report Cards for every district in the state. The Law Center's Barbara E. Ransom and Judith A. Gran will serve as Co-Directors of the project. In assigning an appropriate grade to each district, the staff will examine the factors contributing to the widespread variation in inclusive practices across school districts. A series of surveys will be administered, coupled with an extensive analysis of current data, to assess each district's teacher training opportunities, fiscal constraints, structure of educational programs and overall commitment of educators and administrators to supportive and flexible placements of special needs children. The creation of such a rating system that evaluates a district's commitment and actual implementation of inclusion across disabilities will provide families of students with disabilities with critical resources needed for comparison. Districts with high inclusive practices ratings will serve as models for others and provide key insights on making inclusion not merely a mandate, but a reality.

The Law Center's report provides information on the provision of services and performance of students with disabilities who have Individual Education Plans (IEPs) which are prepared and implemented by Pennsylvania's 500 school districts. The school districts submit this data to the Pennsylvania Department of Education as required by the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education. The following links will allow you to access the data gathered and analyzed by the Law Center. The Explanation describes the methodology and provides details about each of the data tables, which include an overview, as well as inclusion and performance data:
Click here for Data Explanation
Click here for Table I - Overview
Click here for Table II - Inclusion Data A
Click here for Table III - Inclusion Data B
Click here for Table IV - Performance