Examining Current Challenges in Secondary Edudation and
Transition June 2002 • Vol. 1, Issue 2 Students with
Disabilities who Drop Out of School—Implications for Policy and
Practice By Martha L. Thurlow, Mary F. Sinclair, and David R.
Johnson Issue: Amid new school accountability policies and
stiffer promotion and graduation requirements, what
interventions work to lower an unacceptably high dropout rate
for students with disabilities? Defining the Issue The dropout
rate for students with disabilities is approximately twice that
of general education students (Blackorby & Wagner, 1996).
Increased concerns about the dropout problem are now emerging
because of state and local education agency experiences with
high-stakes accountability in the context of standards-based
reform. States and school districts have identified what
students should know and be able to do, and have implemented
assessments to ensure that students have attained the identified
knowledge and skills. Large numbers of students, however, are no