Data Collection

CCDI Data & Tracking Subcommittee:
Definition for Data Collection

Prospective and registered students with special needs are those persons who are identified as possessing those characteristics and conditions whereby access and/or achievement in a college program may be impaired by one or more disabilities within the meaning of the Ontario Human Rights Code; and for whom reasonable accommodation designed to ameliorate the educational difficulties arising out of such disabilities may be provided by the college; AND

Special needs accommodations are those which extend distinctly beyond a standard level of service provided for the non-disabled population; and concurrently, they are those which relate directly to the specific disability the effects of which are to ameliorated; AND

Such accommodations are distinct from the rights and obligations of the college both to apply criteria related to academic preparedness for admission purposes, and to design models for academic support for all students; AND

Special needs applies to students in targeted programs only to the extent that such needs clearly extend beyond the purview of those needs that characterize the targeted population of such a program (1989).

Other important considerations of the reports include;
• collection of data occurs between April 1st and March 31st of each year and is based on definitions and classifications known to all Special Needs Offices
• not all colleges reported in all years the proportionate representation of students with disabilities is derived from the college system statistics of full time enrolment at November 1st of each year tracked

Since 1989, Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology have observed an increase in the numbers of students with disabilities enrolled in programs.
In 1989-90, colleges reported 3,501 or 3.2% of the population were identified students with special needs (CCDI, 1990). Five years later, by 1994-95 the proportion of students with special needs had grown to 9.2%, or 9,168 students (CCDI, 1996). From then on, students with disabilities have maintained their presence at a similar level.

A complete reflection of population growth in the colleges can be seen in Figures 1 & 2.

Figure 1: Population of students with special needs tracked over a 10 year span (1989-1999 CCDI Statistical Tracking Reports).

Figure 2: Proportionate population of students with special needs in the College System over a 10 year span (1989-1999 CCDI Statistical Tracking Reports).