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Some important numbers:
- 2,415,564 students (ages 6-21) are being served in the LD category of IDEA today, according to the most recent data available. This is 41.4% of the total number of students served under IDEA and 3.5% of the U.S. resident population of students in that age group.
- While the number of school-age children identified with LD grew rapidly during the late 1980s and 1990s, the number of children identified with LD has declined by 19% over the last decade (2001-2010). In 2001 students in the LD category represented 49% of all special education students, while in 2010 the category represented 41%.
- Males comprise almost two-thirds of school-age students with LD who receive special education services.
- The percentage of students served in the LD category varies significantly from state to state. To learn about the specifics for your state, see The State of Learning Disabilities.
Over-Identification
With less than 4% of the school-age population currently receiving special education services in the LD category, there appears to be little evidence supporting the persistent claim that students are over-identified as LD. In fact, Congressional testimony by Dr. G. Reid Lyon, former Chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health, indicated that approximately 6 percent of school-age children will experience learning difficulty, particularly in the area of reading, even when provided with early and intensive interventions. It is these children who should be served by special education as students with LD.Another frequent issue raised by both media and policymakers is that of overrepresentation of minority populations in special education. While there is reason for concern about over-identification of minorities, the disability categories and race/ethnic groups of greatest concern are those of emotional disturbance and intellectual disability (previously mental retardation) as it relates to Black and Hispanic students.
As with the overall rate of identification of students as LD, the disproportionality of race/ethnic groups varies among the states. The determination of disproportionality is generally made by comparing the race/ethnic distribution of students served within each disability category of IDEA with the distribution of those groups within the resident population for a state or school district. Additional information on disproportionality by race and disability is available from your state’s department of education.
Cost of Special Education
The cost of delivering special education services to students with disabilities is a frequent area of interest for the media and policymakers alike. Federally-funded studies have helped identify the true costs associated with IDEA services, most notably the Special Education Expenditures Project (SEEP).Report #5 of the SEEP found that per pupil expenditures for students in special education ranged from a low of $10,558 for students with learning disabilities to a high of $20,095 for students with multiple disabilities in the 1999-2000 school year. The average per pupil expenditure for a typical regular education student who receives no special education services was $6,556. Therefore, the average expenditure for students with LD is 1.6 times the expenditure for a regular education student.
These expenditures included spending on all regular and special education services used to educate students with LD. The majority of students with LD spend more than 80 percent of their instructional time in general education.
Outcomes and Expectations
The difficulties faced by people with LD can often be best communicated by providing data on the outcomes being experienced by those served by special education. While there is frequent reporting on the remarkable achievements of a few notables with LD, in general, people with LD are experiencing poor outcomes in important areas such as high school graduation, postsecondary education and average earnings. Overall, learning disabilities compromise abilities and aspirations and can lead to problems such as unemployment, underemployment, substance abuse and poor mental health.Graduation: Graduation from high school with a standard diploma for students with LD covered under IDEA in 2009-2010 was 67%. This was up from 54% a decade earlier (2000-2001).
Dropout: The dropout rate for students with LD was 20% in the 2009-2010 school year, versus 39% in 2000-2001. Dropout rates vary greatly by racial/ethnic groups for both general and special education population.
Postsecondary Education: Among high school graduates who had enrolled in postsecondary education within 8 years of leaving high school, just 21% had enrolled in a 4-year college. Fifty percent had enrolled in a 2-year or community college and 36% had enrolled in a vocational, business or training school.
Parental Expectations: Based on a 2001 survey, 59% of parents expect their student with LD to graduate from high school with a standard diploma. Regarding postsecondary education, 14% of parents expect their students with LD to graduate from a two-year college, while just 10% expect graduation from a four-year college. A majority of parents — 64% — reported that they expect their students with LD definitely or probably won’t graduate from a 4-year college.
More information on the secondary school and post-high school experiences of students with LD is available at www.NLTS2.org.
Cost of Procedural Safeguards in Special Education
There are many reports about the high cost of litigation in special education; however this is difficult to substantiate. Recent studies of due process hearings, such as those conducted by the Project Forum at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, indicate that the number of due process hearings held in the U.S. is declining. Much of this can be attributed to the requirement that all states make mediation and other dispute resolution strategies available to schools and parents in conflict.A report by the Special Education Expenditure Project (Report #4) indicated that total expenditures on special education mediation, due process, and litigation during the 1999-2000 school year was approximately $146.5 million for all K-12 special education students in public schools (6.2 million students). This breaks down to an expenditure of approximately $24 per special education pupil and accounts for only .3% of total special education expenditures.
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