PARENT INFO

Results from the Year 2000 Parent Interviews are Posted on this Web Site

We have learned a wealth of important and useful information, including characteristics of students and families, educational supports provided at home, and involvement in students' education. This portrays a fascinating picture of students, their families, and their relationship with schools. You can obtain more detailed information of our findings under the Info and Reports page as well as under the new Data Tables page. The information provided will help to improve schools, by informing the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Congress, state policymakers, parents, educators, and researchers about ways to improve educational services to better meet the needs of students.

We believe that parents will find many uses for these initial findings and subsequent ones as they consider the progress their child is making, effective classroom and school practices, as well as promising approaches to improve learning and social adjustment.

Results From the 2002 Parent Interviews Will Be Available Soon

Although information from a single point in time is valuable, the longitudinal nature of the study allows us to look for factors that relate to growth. Therefore, during the spring of 2002 we conducted our second wave of parent interviews. The data is still being analyzed, but will be available in the fall of 2003.

Is Your Contact Information Up-To-Date?

If you have moved since we last contacted you please update your information. It is important that we have accurate and up-to-date information as we will begin preparing for our third wave of data collection beginning in the fall of 2003. Click to go to Address Change page.

Thank-You Opportunities

As part of our ongoing effort to thank all participants for their time and commitment, we are happy to announce that in July of 2002 one computer and ten $100 gift certificates were given to randomly selected parents who participated in the parent interviews. These same drawings will be available again at the end of the 2003-2004 school year.

Recipients came from the following cities: Akron, OH (two winners); Austin, TX; Ft. Worth, TX; Fuquay Varina, NC; Lincoln, Nebraska; Muncie, IN; New Market, MD; Romney, WV; Tacoma, WA; Vici, OK.

Did You Know…

That 92% of parents expected their children "definitely" or "probably" to graduate from high school with a regular diploma, and more than three-fourths were expected "definitely" or "probably" to go on to postsecondary education after high school. Sadly, the evidence suggests that these expectations greatly exceed the rate at which students with disabilities actually graduate from high school (57%) or attend postsecondary school (14%)(NLTS2, 1990).

Age differences in expectations and family support were quite apparent, favoring younger students. For example, there is some evidence that as students grew older, parents' expectations were lowered, perhaps becoming more closely aligned with the reality of students' academic achievements. Family support of almost all kinds also was lowered for older students, with the exception of having a computer at home and using it for educational purposes. Reductions in family involvement in education as students age also is apparent in the general student population.

SEELS findings suggest that disability is not always an individual trait, but can concentrate in families. Approximately 39% of children with disabilities lived in households in which another member was reported to have a disability to affect another child (31%) than an adult (17%) in the household. Eight percent of children lived in households in which one or more adults as well as one or more other children also had a disability.

Very few children (3%) had parents who reported that they had had to change insurance plans or buy extra insurance because of their children's disabilities; 13% of children had parents who had encountered refusals by insurance companies to cover services or items related to children's disabilities. Such refusals were most common for requests for diagnostic services and for therapies, such as speech or physical therapy (4%).

Two-thirds of students were boys; however, there was a considerable range in the percentage of boys across the disability categories. For example, boys were approximately 56% of students with hearing impairments, mental retardation, and visual impairments, though they were 80% or more of students with emotional disturbances and autism.

last update: 05/03
2003 SRI International