Indicator 14:  Post School Outcomes

 

In Maryland, Indicator 14 is calculated using an administrative records exchange with the Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center (MLDSC), which is Maryland's State Longitudinal Data System, and two additional state agencies that provide post-secondary education and training to individuals with disabilities that do not supply data to the MLDSC (rather than through an attempt to survey the students, their families, or teachers). Therefore, there is no true "response rate" as there would be for a survey. Instead, the state reports on Census data. All students with disabilities who have Maryland Public School attendance files are intended to be included in MLDS. In practice, however, some students may not be included in the MLDSC due to data entry error or a failure at the LEA level to submit an attendance file for a student. Still, through this process, 100% of Leavers were found to be contained within the MLDSC and as such, their associated postsecondary and workforce data is included in the analysis. 

 

After identification of students in the MLDSC, the State then collects training and education information about students from the Department of Rehabilitative Services (DORS) and Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) and adds it to MLDSC information (although DDA has been unable to provide information since the start of the COVID 19 Pandemic). 

 

The State's goal is to identify post-secondary information for all Leavers (full representativeness) to satisfy its Indicator 14 reporting requirement.This exchange provides data on the number of youth with disabilities no longer in secondary school and who had an IEP in effect at the time they left school (Leavers), and were enrolled in higher education, or in some other postsecondary education or training program, or competitively employed or in some other employment within one year of leaving high school. At this time, the data contained in MLDSC does not contain any out-of-state employment or college placements, or federal employment placements. However, data sharing agreements are continuing to be developed between MLDSC and other agencies (i.e., State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, Developmental Disabilities Administration) to reflect additional efforts to match additional students’ post-school outcomes. The State reports on census data, so a response rate (like would be calculated from a survey) is not entirely applicable. Through its partnerships, the State was able to locate information on all 6,586 (100%) Leavers in the MLDSC.

 

Data were collected on youth who exited during school year 2021-22. These leavers are youth who left school by graduating with a regular high school diploma, exiting with a Maryland Certificate of Program Completion, aging out, left school early (i.e. dropped out). An analysis of the data demonstrated: