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Chapter 5: Change and Consistency in Use/Non-Use of ExD

A unique purpose and goal of this data story is to better understand school's tendencies to use/no use ExD across time and what are the implications of change and consistency in its use for its students and for the schools. As previously noted, every school in our data set was assigned to one of seven Use/No Use groups depending on whether they reported any cases of ExD across the three data collections. To begin to understand the implications of change and consistency, we first present information describing the patterns of use/non-use across states and what differences may exist in terms of the types of schools that make up the different Use/Non-Use groups.


Distribution and Characteristics of Schools in Use/Non-Use Groups

A unique purpose and goal of this data story is to better understand school's tendencies to use/not use ExD across time and what are the implications of change and consistency in its use for its students and for the schools. As previously noted, every school in our data set was assigned to one of seven Use/No Use groups depending on whether they reported any cases of ExD across the three data collections. To begin to understand the implications of change and consistency, we first present information describing the patterns of use/no use across states and what differences may exist in terms of the types of schools that make up the different Use/No Use groups.


Recall that the eight Use/No Use ExD Groups across the 3 data collections are:

Use/Use/Use (U/U/U)

No Use/No Use/No Use (N/N/N)

Use/Use/No Use (U/U/N)

Use/No Use/No Use (U/N/N)

No Use/No Use/Use (N/N/U)

No Use/Use/No Use (N/U/N)

Use/No Use/Use (U/N//U)

No Use/Use/Use (N/U/U)


Table 5.1 presents the distribution of schools in each of Use/No Use ExD Groups by state and for the U. S. average. Here are some takeaways from these data:


  • Overall, about 2/3 of all public schools in the U. S. consistently used ExD across all three data collections. 
  • There was considerable variability across states in the distribution of schools with some states having very high rates of consistent use of ExD (e.g., GA, SC, DE, and NC all had at least 90% of schools in the U/U/U group; see Figure 5.2) whereas other states have only about 30% of schools in the U/U/U group (e.g., SD, ND, MT).
  • These patterns were reverse for schools that did not use ExD across all of the data collections.(e..g., GA and SC had less than 1% of schools in the N/N/N group whereas (SD and ND had about 30% or more in the N/N/N group).

Table 5.1: State Level Percent of Schools in ExD Use/No Use

Figure 5.1: Percent of State Schools Consistently Using ExD

The characteristics of schools in each of the Use/No Use Groups are presented in Figures 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4. Figure 5.2 breaks down the distribution by level of school (elementary, middle, high school). Figure 5.3 breaks down the distribution by total school enrollment. Finally, Figure 5.3 breaks down the distribution by percent enrollment by race/ethnic group.


Figures 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4

This figure describe the sample size and types of schools in each of the ExD Use/No Use groups. Notice that although elementary schools make up the largest percent of schools in each group, the group of schools that consistently used ExD across the data collections (U/U/U) had a smaller percent of elementary and a larger percent of both middle and high schools than any of the other groups.

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    This research was supported in part by a grant from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award (Grant #: (90Y#0122-01-00) totaling $95,790 with 25 percentage funded by ACF/HHS and 75 percentage funded by non-government source(s). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACF/HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit the ACF website, Administrative and National Policy Requirement. Support was also provided by funding from the Spencer Foundation and the Sanford Foundation. 


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