Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Parent participation stands as a fundamental tenet of special education law to safeguard the rights of children with disabilities to a free and appropriate public education. Accountability measures included in federal legislation require states and territories to annually report how satisfied parents are with how they are being included in the designing and monitoring of the special education and related services of their children. However, literature suggests that different demographic groups participate in and rate their satisfaction with the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process differently, which may ultimately influence their reporting for accountability measures related to parent involvement in the IEP process. Using data from the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2016: Parent and Family Involvement in Education, I will investigate the predictive value of race, ethnicity, parent education, and household income on parent attendance at IEP team meetings, parent satisfaction with the school’s communication with the family, parent satisfaction with their child’s special need teacher or therapist, parent satisfaction with the school’s ability to accommodate their child’s special needs, and the parent’s satisfaction with the schools commitment to help their child learn.