San Jose Unified Snapshot
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIESFebruary | 2018
Students with disabilities in all public schools should receive the academic and social-emotional support they need to be prepared for meaningful opportunities in college, career, and life. Unfortunately, far too many of San Jose’s students with disabilities are not receiving this support.
This report looks at how San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD) is doing for students with disabilities overall and compared to other districts. Download the full report to learn more and explore the data.
FINDING #1
San Jose Unified trails other Bay Area school districts in serving students with disabilities.
As of 2016-17, fewer than two in every 10 students with disabilities read and do math at grade level in SJUSD. SJUSD trails other Bay Area districts not only in proficiency rates, but also cohort graduation rates.
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FINDING #2
Too many San Jose parents have to fight for services for their children with disabilities, based on the unusually high number of due process hearings.
In 2013, the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit exposed several school districts – including San Jose Unified – for delaying and denying the process to identify students with disabilities and provide them services. More recent data from 2013 – 2017 shows this pattern hasn’t changed for SJUSD. Their high number of cases, coupled with the reality that few parents can or will pursue this time-consuming and expensive process, raises concerns over how many parents in the district must fight to receive services.
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