Educational Environments of Students with Disabilities: The Disproportional Impacts of National Policies on the School Placements of Students Diagnosed with an ASD in Australia and the United States

The journey towards inclusion has wrought many changes in the educational placement options for students with disabilities. In this paper I explore the different policy contexts of Australia and the United States and consider the influence on, and the impact of, their respective disability policies on the classroom environments in which groups of students with disabilities are placed and educated. I compare these contexts to investigate the historical drivers of policy change in each country and how these influence the articulation and
support for diverse students‟ access to regular education. Student placement data in Australia and the United States are analysed to illustrate how the policy trajectories in each context have influenced the placement patterns of students in the education system over time. The results of the comparison show that the pace and intensity of reform efforts in each context have been associated with very different drivers of policy change. The results of the student placement analysis suggest that the impact of these policies have been disproportionate.
indicating that students identified with an ASD are educated in more segregated environments than their peers in both countries, and students from Australia are increasingly more segregated and are dropping out of school at a greater rate than their U.S counterparts.