COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES GRADUATE
AT THE SAME RATE AS THEIR NONDISABLED PEERS
We have some interesting research results to share with you. College
students with disabilities graduate at the same rate as their
nondisabled peers (i.e., the same percentage of students with and
without
disabilities graduate)!
We are in the process of examining the academic outcomes of 734
students with disabilities who started their studies since 1990 at
Dawson
College. This large urban junior / community college in Montreal offers
two
year pre-university programs (e.g., pure and applied science) and
three-year career programs (e.g., nursing). Students in Quebec must
first
obtain a college diploma if they intend to pursue a university degree.
We are comparing graduation rates, average grades, and course pass
rates of students with disabilities with their non-disabled peers in a
study
funded by PAREA. We now have some exciting preliminary results on
graduation rates to share. Of the 269 students with all types of
disabilities who
commenced in two year pre-university programs between 1990 and 1998,
55.0%
have graduated by November 2002. 54.5% of the 16,053 nondisabled
students
graduated during the same period.
Similarly, of the 47 students with disabilities who commenced in
three-year career programs between 1990 and 1997, 53.2% graduated by
November
2002. 51.7% of the 2694 nondisabled students graduated during the same
period.
As expected, students with disabilities took significantly longer to
graduate than their nondisabled peers. Pre-university students with
disabilities took an average of 5.95 semesters to graduate.
Nondisabled students took 5.24 semesters. This was also the case for
careers
students, where the number of semesters was 8.24 and 6.92, respectively.
If you wish to cite our findings, the reference is: Shirley
Jorgensen, Alice Havel, Daniel Lamb, Crystal James, Maria Barile, and
Catherine
Fichten. (2002). Students with disabilities at Dawson College: Graduation
rates. Montreal: Dawson College.
Should students with disabilities be encouraged to attend
postsecondary education? Are the funds spent on supporting them in
college well
spent? Absolutely!
Catherine S. Fichten [log in to unmask]
Maria Barile [log in to unmask]
Jennison Asuncion [log in to unmask]
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