The Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools Program and High School Completion

Bibliographic Data

ID8223741
AuthorsMichelle Yin (0000-0001-9333-1535, Northwestern University, corresponding author), Garima Siwach (American Institutes for Research), Yulia Belyakova (World Bank), Yulia Yu Belyakova (0009-0004-0870-6582, World Bank)
Year2022
Volume59
Issue2
Pages315-344
Publication date2022-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Educational Research Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-8312 • E-ISSN: 1935-1011
PublisherAmerican Educational Research Association (AERA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3102/00028312211032744
OpenAlexW3199239268
LanguageEN
References cited28

Despite an increase in special education enrollment, a stark gap in high school completion between students with and without disabilities persists. This study examined the impact of Unified Champion Schools (UCS), a Special Olympics program designed to foster social inclusion through three components—Unified Sports, Inclusive Youth Leadership, and Whole School Engagement—on high school graduation rates. Using a novel dataset and a difference-in-differences design, we found that implementing the UCS program increased the graduation rate by 1.1 percentage points for all students and 1.4 percentage points for students with disabilities. The increase in schooling outcomes for students with disabilities in UCS schools also was found to be positively correlated with perceptions about a more socially inclusive school environment

Champion · Graduation (instrument · Inclusion (mineral · Mathematics education · Medical education · Political science · Special education · Disability Education and Employment · Family and Disability Support Research · Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport · Mathematics · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology

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