Special Education

Diplomas and Disabilities

December 06, 2000 1 min read
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Diplomas and Disabilities

Graduation Rates Vary
The following shows the number and proportion of disabled students age 17 or older who earned standard high school diplomas in 1997-98, as a percentage of all such students in that age bracket and disability category.
Disability Number Percentage
Specific learning disabilities 99,640 30.5
Speech or language impairments 4,099 35.0
Mental retardation 15,268 13.8
Emotional disturbance 13,861 22.3
Multiple disabilities 2,061 10.3
Hearing impairments 2,761 29.0
Orthopedic impairments 2,037 25.8
Other health impairments 5,052 29.6
Visual impairments 1,157 30.6
Autism 384 8.4
Deaf- blindness 132 39.2
Traumatic brain injury 671 27.7
All disabilities 147,123 25.5

Standard Diplomas Inching Up

There has been a gradual rise in recent years in the proportion of students with disabilities earning standard high school diplomas, as a percentage of all such students ages 17 to 21 who exit their states’ education systems.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Data Analysis System.

A version of this article appeared in the December 06, 2000 edition of Education Week as Diplomas and Disabilities

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