A meta-analysis of the effects of placement on academic and social skill outcome measures of students with disabilities Conrad Oh-Young *, John Filler University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Department of Educational & Clinical Studies, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Box #453014, Las Vegas, NV 89154-3014, United States 1. Introduction The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Regulations (IDEA, 2006) mandate that, ‘‘To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are nondisabled’’ (34 C.F.R. § 300.114 [a] [2] [i]), and that, ‘‘Special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily’’ (34 C.F.R. § 300.114 [a] [2] [ii]). But not all children with disabilities receive their education in the same classrooms or settings as their peers without disabilities. For example, consider 2012 data reported by the U.S. Department of Education (2014) on individuals who received services under Part B of IDEA: (a) 23.6% of the children ages three through five were educated in a separate class; (b) 13.8% of students ages six through twenty- one received special education and related services less than 40% of the time in regular education classrooms; and (c) just 13.1% of individuals identified as having multiple disabilities and 17.1% of individuals identified as having intellectual disabilities received special education and related services in the regular classroom for more than 80% of the Research in Developmental Disabilities 47 (2015) 80–92 ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 9 February 2015 Received in revised form 24 June 2015 Accepted 13 August 2015 Available online Keywords: Meta-analysis Inclusion Integration Placement Least restrictive environment Achievement Outcomes Social skills Social interaction ABSTRACT This study involved an investigation of differences between outcome measures of students with disabilities placed in more integrated settings with those of students placed in less integrated settings. A meta-analysis was conducted using the findings from 24 studies published in peer-reviewed journals from 1980 through 2013. Results from the analyses suggest that there were significant differences (p < 0.0001) between placement settings with the majority of students with disabilities in more integrated settings outperforming those in less integrated settings on both academic and social outcome measures. Overall these findings, combined with those from two prior meta-analytic studies, provide evidence spanning over 80 years suggesting separate settings are not as beneficial as are more integrated settings. Implications related to practice and policy, as well as avenues for future study, are discussed. ß 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 7028951105. E-mail addresses: cohyoung@gmail.com (C. Oh-Young), jfiller@unlv.nevada.edu (J. Filler). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Research in Developmental Disabilities http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.08.014 0891-4222/ß 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.