Public education, at present, is focused on ensuring the success of all students and has tasked educators with producing positive results. Despite this political climate, research has indicated that some learners, such as those considered economically disadvantaged and those requiring special education, tend to face higher adversity, making it more difficult for them to reach achievement markers. As these subgroup differences have become concerning for districts aiming to close the achievement gap, program evaluation has emerged as a useful tool to determine the effectiveness of educational practices. In the current investigation, a program evaluation was utilized to examine an elementary special education program in a school district characterized as predominantly low socioeconomic status (SES) to define the recipients of service and determine whether there were differences on indicators of educational outcomes based on SES.

Results indicated that students receiving special education in this district's elementary schools were predominantly male, evenly distributed across SES, retained at some point during their educational career, and classified as having a Speech or Language Impairment (SLI) and prior to entering kindergarten. Younger students tended to be classified SLI and older students were more likely to be classified as having a Specific Learning Disability (SLD). Students, in general, across the district and within the special education population tended to demonstrate lower achievement. Those receiving special education who were considered low SES were more likely to be retained and identified as having a disability earlier in their educational career (prior to kindergarten versus third/fourth grade). Additionally, no significant differences were noted on indicators of educational outcomes by SES. Notably, while this special education program matched most national and district norms on the surface, further exploration revealed score patterns that were inconsistent with classifications assigned due to their tendency to be generally low. Essentially, results indicated that, overall, across this district student achievement tended to be lower regardless of SES or disability. These findings supported literature suggesting that a school's overall SES can override individual student SES in its correlation with achievement outcomes.