A comparison of service delivery models for special education middle school students receiving moderate intervention services

In an effort to improve academic performance for students receiving special education services, a large urban school district in Tennessee has implemented Integrated Service Delivery Model. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of students receiving instruction in self-contained classrooms to the performance of students receiving instruction in inclusive classrooms. School attendance, number of suspension days, number of disciplinary referrals, reading achievement, and math achievement were compared between the two groups. Participants were purposefully sample selected middle schools that provide special education services to address social, emotional, and behavioral deficit areas. The sample consisted of 103 middle school special education students in grades five through eight who receive moderate intervention services (MIS) for social, emotional, and/or behavioral deficit areas. Independent samples t-tests were used to compare the means of students receiving MIS in inclusive classrooms to the means of students receiving MIS services in self-contained classrooms for number of suspensions, reading achievement, and math achievement variables. Mann-Whitney non-parametric tests were used to compare mean ranks of students receiving MIS in inclusive classrooms to mean ranks of students receiving MIS services in self-contained classrooms for differences in attendance and number of disciplinary referrals. All inferential tests were compared against the standard probability level (p) of .05. Of the five null hypotheses explored, there were no statistically significant differences in the performance of middle school students receiving MIS services in self-contained classrooms compared to middle school students receiving MIS services in inclusion classrooms in regards to attendance, number of suspension days, reading achievement, math achievement, and number of disciplinary referrals. Based upon the findings of this research, recommendations for practice support the need for a continuum of services to be provided for special education students with social, emotional, and/or behavioral issues. This research compares data obtained after two years of implementation of an Integrated Service Delivery model. Future research should replicate this study to measure student performance after five years of implementation of this Integrated Service Delivery model; for elementary, high school, or even across tiers for this population of students