Table 219.90.

Number and percentage distribution of 14- through 21-year-old students served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B, who exited school, by exit reason, sex, race/ethnicity, age, and type of disability: 2017-18 and 2018-19

Year, sex, race/ethnicity, age, and type of disability	Exited school						Transferred to regular education	Moved, known to be continuing4
	Total	Graduated with regular diploma	Received alternative certifi- cate1	Reached maximum age2	Dropped out3	Died
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
2017-18
Total number	414,051	301,035	40,313	4,948	66,301	1,454	60,474	159,665
Percentage distribution of total	100.0	72.7	9.7	1.2	16.0	0.4	†	†
Number by sex
Male	268,660	192,705	26,156	3,251	45,541	1,007	39,673	104,974
Female	145,385	108,329	14,157	1,697	20,755	447	20,801	54,690
Number by race/ethnicity
White	199,998	153,184	17,265	2,265	26,612	672	34,598	71,788
Black	86,203	56,745	10,651	832	17,602	373	8,209	39,870
Hispanic	99,834	70,593	10,245	1,399	17,311	286	12,445	36,992
Asian	7,623	6,017	816	248	508	34	1,565	1,859
Pacific Islander	1,779	1,209	102	43	415	10	432	512
American Indian/Alaska Native	6,229	4,429	225	48	1,493	34	1,088	2,508
Two or more races	12,385	8,858	1,009	113	2,360	45	2,137	6,136
Number by age5
14	3,675	3	1	0	3,464	207	15,650	38,731
15	5,749	60	13	0	5,429	247	13,237	36,702
16	16,954	4,862	400	0	11,415	277	13,300	35,511
17	172,234	142,437	11,067	1	18,451	279	11,001	27,120
18	146,347	115,063	14,680	11	16,373	220	5,152	14,039
19	38,517	25,938	5,208	29	7,227	115	1,203	4,895
20	17,980	8,657	5,050	1,301	2,900	72	634	1,909
21	12,595	4,016	3,894	3,606	1,042	37	297	758
Number by type of disability
Autism	32,617	23,494	5,837	1,113	2,090	83	3,196	9,385
Deaf-blindness	82	56	14	6	4	2	5	31
Emotional disturbance	36,754	22,204	2,238	246	11,934	132	5,159	22,299
Hearing impairment	4,502	3,753	353	45	340	11	691	1,230
Intellectual disability	35,194	16,760	11,136	1,967	5,141	190	1,600	12,583
Multiple disabilities	8,672	4,041	2,734	562	1,042	293	397	2,816
Orthopedic impairment	2,444	1,637	484	114	159	50	221	528
Other health impairment6	74,103	56,183	4,832	289	12,496	303	11,161	31,832
Specific learning disability	203,805	159,620	11,918	483	31,440	345	28,942	72,981
Speech or language impairment	11,429	9,820	303	30	1,256	20	8,647	4,897
Traumatic brain injury	2,667	1,990	321	66	274	16	256	663
Visual impairment	1,782	1,478	143	27	125	9	199	420
2018-19
Total number	422,564	304,019	42,835	4,705	69,476	1,529	58,282	164,243
Percentage distribution of total	100.0	71.9	10.1	1.1	16.4	0.4	†	†
Number by sex
Male	273,591	194,183	27,804	3,053	47,485	1,066	37,924	107,358
Female	148,936	109,811	15,030	1,653	21,979	463	20,356	56,873
Number by race/ethnicity
White	197,487	150,483	18,123	2,199	25,942	740	33,023	72,007
Black	88,909	58,232	10,502	696	19,103	376	7,689	41,513
Hispanic	107,203	74,125	11,833	1,351	19,603	291	12,871	38,778
Asian	7,897	6,154	892	277	541	33	1,554	2,050
Pacific Islander	1,639	1,163	124	37	297	18	337	516
American Indian/Alaska Native	6,345	4,515	227	41	1,540	22	781	2,820
Two or more races	13,085	9,347	1,134	105	2,450	49	2,027	6,559
Number by age5
14	3,874	21	5	0	3,641	207	15,181	40,209
15	6,327	136	31	0	5,885	275	13,547	38,202
16	17,700	5,214	440	0	11,799	247	12,846	36,383
17	166,767	135,729	12,191	0	18,510	337	10,090	27,725
18	151,854	118,364	15,949	0	17,324	217	4,780	14,542
19	43,538	30,276	5,261	16	7,863	122	1,063	4,820
20	18,621	8,976	5,165	1,121	3,282	77	487	1,685
21	13,883	5,303	3,793	3,568	1,172	47	288	677
Number by type of disability
Autism	36,221	25,844	6,659	1,211	2,422	86	3,318	9,857
Deaf-blindness	91	62	16	5	8	0	11	26
Emotional disturbance	37,130	22,331	2,282	194	12,200	123	4,748	22,715
Hearing impairment	4,684	3,865	383	55	369	12	657	1,300
Intellectual disability	35,487	16,944	11,513	1,774	5,025	231	1,295	12,008
Multiple disabilities	8,919	3,978	2,858	565	1,194	322	397	2,902
Orthopedic impairment	2,585	1,648	541	135	202	60	223	514
Other health impairment6	77,015	57,791	5,118	258	13,530	318	11,047	34,102
Specific learning disability	204,193	158,056	12,638	387	32,784	329	27,928	74,146
Speech or language impairment	11,722	9,985	341	44	1,337	14	8,214	5,635
Traumatic brain injury	2,743	2,045	340	51	270	27	228	604
Visual impairment	1,773	1,460	141	25	137	8	217	435

†Not applicable.

1 Received a certificate of completion, modified diploma, or some similar document, but did not meet the same standards for graduation as those for students without disabilities. In 2018–19, includes 2 students who exited an educational program through receipt of an alternate diploma.

2 Each state determines its maximum age to receive special education services. At the time these data were collected, the maximum age across states generally ranged from 20 to 22 years old.

3 "Dropped out" is defined as the total who were enrolled at some point in the reporting year, were not enrolled at the end of the reporting year, and did not exit for any of the other reasons described.

4 "Moved, known to be continuing" is the total number of students who moved out of the administrative area or transferred to another district and are known to be continuing in an educational program.

5 Age data are as of the most recent child count prior to the students exiting special education, so some students may have been 1 year older at the time they exited school.

6 Other health impairments include having limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems such as a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes.

NOTE: Data are for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Bureau of Indian Education, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, the Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Includes imputations for missing or unavailable data from Vermont in 2017–18 and from Louisiana and Iowa in 2018–19. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of reporting anomalies and rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Section 618 Data Products: State Level Data Files. Retrieved February 2, 2021, from https://www2.ed.gov/programs/osepidea/618-data/state-level-data-files/index.html. (This table was prepared February 2021.)