Knowledge Development

Learning What Works

NDPC-SD has multiple initiatives that contribute to increased knowledge and understanding of problems, issues and effective strategies pertinent to school completion for students with disabilities. A unique value of the Center is our ongoing effort to synthesize evidence-based knowledge and practical approaches to dropout prevention and school completion and use this knowledge to develop training modules, implementation guides and systematic frameworks for transforming practice. Some of our knowledge development tasks are described below.

1. Continually refreshing our knowledge of school completion interventions and practices and conducting new literature reviews in the areas of reentry and recovery. This work will expand our knowledge base about effective interventions and practice models in these areas—particularly around reentry practices. NDPC-SD’s work in this area stands to be particularly significant, as the critical components of such programs for students with disabilities are neither well understood nor well documented.
2. Identifying effective exemplary programs that impact school completion for students with disabilities and disseminating this information widely.
3. Analyzing states’ Indicator 1 and 2 (Graduation Rate and Dropout Rate) data from the State Performance Plans and Annual Performance Reports submitted annually to OSEP and summarizing this information for dissemination. An increasing focus of this annual analysis is on identifying policies, strategies and practices that are effective in improving school completion rates for students with disabilities.

The ultimate goal of the Center's knowledge development activities is to synthesize what is currently known about dropout prevention for students with disabilities, and to develop a series of high-quality products that can be used by states in designing and developing effective dropout prevention programs. All of the Center's other major activities (i.e., technical assistance, collaboration, and dissemination) stem from this major enterprise.

Research Syntheses

Syntheses of research examining effective practices in dropout prevention and school completion for students with disabilities

Practice Guides

Guides to help teachers and school staff put research-based practices into place to support students with disabilities

Analyses of State Data

Summaries of states’ goals, performance data, and improvement activities for Indicators 1 and 2

SPP Toolkit Series