This study examines how the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools (UCS) program affects student academic and behavioral outcomes using 11 years of student-level administrative data from North Carolina. The UCS program is a whole-school inclusion initiative comprising three components: Unified Sports, Youth Leadership, and Whole-School Engagement. Using a difference-in-differences research design, the analysis compares outcomes across 314 UCS schools and 2,560 non-UCS schools, covering over one million students in Grades 3 through 8 and more than 435,000 high school students. Findings indicate that longer participation in the UCS program is associated with improved academic performance, reductions in absenteeism and suspensions, and that effects are particularly pronounced for students with intellectual disabilities and students from low-income backgrounds.
Key Findings
Improved academic performance: Longer participation in the Unified Champion Schools program is associated with improved standardized test scores. UCS schools showed higher academic performance than non-UCS schools.
Reduced absenteeism and suspensions: UCS participation is linked to reductions in chronic absenteeism and suspensions, with effects particularly pronounced for students with intellectual disabilities.
Larger effects for low-income students: The positive effects of UCS participation were larger for students from low-income backgrounds, suggesting the program may help narrow equity gaps.
High school graduation baseline: The study documents a graduation rate of 70.6% for students with disabilities compared to 86.5% for all students, underscoring the importance of inclusive programs that support persistence to graduation.
Higher test scores in UCS schools: Schools participating in the UCS program showed higher standardized test scores compared to non-UCS schools across the study period.
How the UCS Program Works
Methods
Research Design
Difference-in-differences approach comparing student outcomes across UCS and non-UCS schools over time.
Data Source
11 years of student-level administrative data from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center (NCERDC).
Sample
314 Unified Champion Schools and 2,560 non-UCS schools. The analysis covers 1,042,074 students in Grades 3–8 and 435,301 high school students.
Policy Implications
Scale whole-school inclusion programs. Evidence supports expanding Unified Champion Schools and similar multi-component inclusion models to improve outcomes for all students, particularly students with disabilities.
Prioritize sustained program participation. Findings show that longer participation in UCS is associated with greater improvements, suggesting schools should commit to multi-year implementation rather than short-term adoption.
Target equity gaps. The larger effects observed for students with intellectual disabilities and students from low-income backgrounds indicate that inclusive programs can serve as equity interventions when strategically deployed.
Integrate inclusion into school improvement strategies. Reductions in absenteeism and suspensions alongside academic gains suggest whole-school inclusion programs address multiple dimensions of school performance simultaneously.
Citation
Yin, M., Siwach, G., & Orellana, A. (2025). Whole-school inclusion programs and student academic and behavioral outcomes. AERA Open, 11. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251400289