The Relationship Between Severity of Disability and Segregated Placements for Students With Complex Support Needs

Most students with complex support needs are taught in separate special education classrooms; one reason is teams that inappropriately use the intensity of support needs as the basis for placement in more restrictive placements. This study used Bayesian multilevel modeling to determine whether the intensity of student support needs predicted educational placement and the extent to which educational placement mediated the relationship between student support needs and outcomes for a sample of 98 elementary students with complex support needs. Findings suggest that students with more intensive support needs were more likely to be placed in more restrictive placements and those restrictive placements predicted lower outcomes. Implications for research and practice related to placement decisions are included.