2020 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium

Section 13: Education
This section presents statistics on Special Education programs in the United States, specifically on children served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B. These data concern the number of children with disabilities served (by age and by type of disability) and mainstream education of children with disabilities. The principal source of these data is the Office of Special Education Programs’ Data Accountability Center, which produces the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 618 Data Tables. Categories of disability and program outcomes under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act can be found on the Center for Parent Information and Resources website.
This section also presents statistics on the educational attainment of people with and without disabilities in the United States. The source of these estimates is the American Community Survey. For these tables, statistics for people with disabilities (disability status) are based on having responded ‘yes’ to a series of questions within the American Community Survey. See the glossary for more details.
Tables
Table 13.1: In the fall of 2018, there were 66,425,830 people ages 6 to 21 years enrolled in school. Of these people ages 6 to 21, 6,210,898 or 9.4 percent received special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B. Hawaii had the smallest percentage (6.7 percent), while Maine had the largest percentage (13.0 percent).
Table 13.2: Of the youth ages 3 to 21 who received special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B, in the fall of 2018, 802,486 were 3 to 5 years old; 2,972,068 were 6 to 11 years old; 2,899,877 were 12 to 17 years old; and 338,953 were 18 to 21 years old.
Tables 13.3a-13.3d: The 6,210,898 students ages 6 to 21 who received special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B, in the fall of 2018 were in the following diagnostic categories: 2,330,111 in specific learning disability, 1,020,336 in speech or language impairment, 417,649 in intellectual disabilities, 342,848 in emotional disturbance, 125,517 in multiple disabilities, 63,695 in hearing impairments, 33,219 in orthopedic impairments, 1,001,986 in other health impairments, 23,701 in visual impairments, 658,147 in autism, 1,406 in deaf-blindness, 25,278 in traumatic brain injury, and 167,005 in developmental delay.
Table 13.4: Of the 6,210,898 youth ages 6 to 21 who received special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B, in the fall of 2018, 5,086,007 (or 81.9 percent) spent 40 percent or more of their time in the regular classroom. New York had the smallest percentage (69.9 percent), while Wyoming had the largest percentage (91.8 percent).
Table 13.5: In 2019, individuals ages 25 and over with disabilities in Mississippi were most likely to have less than a high school education (25.8 percent), while individuals ages 25 and over with disabilities in Wyoming were least likely to have less than a high school education (8.5 percent).
Table 13.6: In 2019, individuals ages 25 and over with disabilities in West Virginia were most likely to have a high school education (44.3 percent), while individuals ages 25 and over with disabilities in California were least likely to have a high school education (24.7 percent).
Table 13.7: In 2019, individuals ages 25 and over with disabilities in Colorado were most likely to have a 4-year college degree (15.7 percent), while individuals ages 25 and over with disabilities in Kentucky were least likely to have a 4-year college degree (6.5 percent).
Table 13.8: In 2019, individuals ages 25 and over with disabilities in the District of Columbia were most likely to have more than a 4-year college degree (13.2 percent), while individuals ages 25 and over with disabilities in West Virginia were least likely to have more than a 4-year college degree (3.6 percent).