Papers/Reports
7/22/2025
New Report Out: State Educational Agency Decision Points for Addressing Disproportionality
This report outlines five key decision points that state educational agencies (SEAs) navigate when addressing disproportionality in special education, offering strategic actions and real-world insights grounded in the Multi-layered Systemic Approach for Policy Analysis (MSAPA).
Suggested citation:
Hartwig, J., Voulgarides, C. K., Jacobs, J., Ahram, R., & Aylward, A. (2025). State educational agency decision points for addressing disproportionality. City University of New York-Hunter College.
LINK to the report
7/21/2025
New Report Out: Structuring Data for Longitudinal Analysis of Disproportionate Representation, Significant Discrepancy, and Significant Disproportionality in Special Education
This report serves as an econ-level resource by providing structured guidance for compiling longitudinal data on special education disproportionality to support trend analysis and equity-focused policy decisions.
Suggested citation:
Aylward, A., Hartwig, J., & Voulgarides, C.K. (2025). Structuring data for longitudinal analysis of disproportionate representation, significant discrepancy, and significant disproportionality in special education. City University of New York-Hunter College.
LINK to the report
7/12/2025
Preprint Available: Introducing the Multi-layered Systemic Approach for Policy Analysis (MSAPA)
Now available as a preprint, this paper unveils the Multilayered Systemic Approach for Policy Analysis (MSAPA)—an interdisciplinary framework for tracing how inequities embedded in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) evolve across settings and time. The authors ground MSAPA in complementary theories, illustrate its power by unpacking racial disproportionality in special education, and offer mixed-methods guidance for turning research insights into equity-driven policy and practice.
Suggested citation:
Voulgarides, C., Aylward, A., Strassfeld, N., Cherng, H. S., Ahram, R., Firestone, A., Hartwig, J., & Jeong, J. Y. (2025). A critical examination of special education policy using a multilayered systemic approach for policy analysis [Preprint]. OSF Preprints. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/yvknm_v1.
LINK to the preprint
6/22/2025
New Report Out: Introducing the Multi-layered Systemic Approach for Policy Analysis (MSAPA)
This report introduces the Multi-layered Systemic Approach for Policy Analysis (MSAPA)—a framework designed to examine how special education policies, such as IDEA, are interpreted and implemented across federal, state, district, and school levels. It also provides a concise overview of disproportionality in special education and demonstrates how MSAPA can be applied to understand systemic patterns of disproportionality in special education.
Suggested citation:
Vougarides, C. K., Hartwig, J., Jacobs, J., & Aylward, A. (2025). An introduction to multi-layered systemic approach for policy analysis. City University of New York–Hunter College.