Fast Facts: Students with disabilities (64)

Students with disabilities

Question:
How many students with disabilities receive services?

Response:

Enacted in 1975, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates the provision of a free and appropriate public school education for eligible students ages 3–21. Eligible students are those identified by a team of professionals as having a disability that adversely affects academic performance and as being in need of special education and/or related services. Data collection activities to monitor compliance with IDEA began in 1976. The number of students ages 3–21 served under IDEA in the United States¹ increased from 6.4 million in school year 2012–13 to 7.5 million in school year 2022–23.²^,³ Taken as a percentage of total public school enrollment, this equates to an increase from 13 to 15 percent of students. The number of students served as a percentage of total enrollment is based on total public school enrollment in prekindergarten through grade 12. For simplicity, this Fast Fact refers to this percentage as the percentage of public school students served under IDEA. However, not all students served under IDEA receive education services in public school environments.

During the coronavirus pandemic, total public school enrollment decreased by 3 percent from fall 2019 to fall 2020, and the fall 2022 enrollment remained lower than it was in fall 2019, before the pandemic (see Public School Enrollment). Meanwhile, the number of students served under IDEA decreased by 1 percent between 2019–20 and 2020–21 (from 7.3 to 7.2 million students). In 2022–23, the number of students served under IDEA reached an all-time high of 7.5 million, which was 3 percent higher than it was in 2019–20. As a result, the percentage of public school students served under IDEA continued its upward trend each year during the pandemic and was higher in 2022–23 (15 percent) than in 2019–20 (14 percent).

In school year 2022–23, across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the percentage of public school students served under IDEA ranged from 12 to 21 percent. The percentage was

21 percent in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maine; and
12 percent in Idaho and Hawaii.

In other U.S. jurisdictions in school year 2022–23, the percentage of public school students served under IDEA was

37 percent in Puerto Rico;
11 percent in the Northern Mariana Islands; and
9 percent in the U.S. Virgin Islands.⁴

Additionally, 15 percent of students in Bureau of Indian Education schools were served under IDEA.

By race/ethnicity, the percentage of public school students served under IDEA in school year 2022�23 was

highest for American Indian/Alaska Native (19 percent) and Black (17 percent) students; and
lowest for Pacific Islander (12 percent) and Asian (8 percent) students.

¹ Data throughout this Fast Fact represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia unless otherwise noted.
² Totals presented in this Fast Fact include imputations for states for which data were unavailable. See Related Tables in the Digest of Education Statistics for more information.
³ For general technical notes related to data analysis, data interpretation, rounding, and other considerations, please refer to the Condition of Education Reader�s Guide.
⁴ Data were not available for American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, and Palau.

SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). Students with Disabilities. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved May 30, 2024, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgg.

Numbers in figure titles reflect original numeration from source Condition of Education indicators.

Related Tables and Figures: (Listed by Release Date)

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