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: School years 2019-20 and 2020-21

Year, sex, race/ethnicity, age, and type of disability	Exited school							Transferred to regular education	Moved, known to be continuing1
	Total	Graduated with regular diploma	Received alternative certifi- cate2		Reached maximum age3	Dropped out4	Died
1	2	3	4		5	6	7	8	9
2019-20
Total number	421,229	319,684	42,359	5	5,024	52,668	1,516	49,982	144,734
Percentage distribution of total	100.0	75.9	10.1		1.2	12.5	0.4	†	†
Number by sex
Male	271,536	203,420	27,519		3,241	36,296	1,060	32,577	94,860
Female	149,661	116,219	14,838		1,782	16,366	456	17,402	49,850
Number by race/ethnicity
American Indian/Alaska Native	5,612	4,214	232		55	1,083	28	683	2,001
Asian	8,820	6,721	1,358		199	500	42	1,326	2,411
Black	86,313	62,038	9,607		831	13,428	409	6,915	35,692
Hispanic	108,247	79,353	12,971		921	14,708	294	10,432	33,480
Pacific Islander	1,462	1,033	140		47	234	8	208	416
White	196,632	155,637	16,938		2,850	20,519	688	28,579	64,581
Two or more races	14,154	10,678	1,108		121	2,200	47	1,839	6,155
Number by age6
14	3,011	10	1		0	2,794	206	13,101	37,228
15	4,595	105	11		0	4,210	269	11,438	33,463
16	14,330	5,430	348		0	8,267	285	11,222	31,653
17	165,313	138,733	12,285		0	13,987	311	8,946	23,662
18	160,102	129,926	16,137		1	13,828	210	3,734	12,218
19	42,065	30,688	5,196		16	6,069	104	907	4,016
20	18,128	9,618	4,851		997	2,576	86	417	1,743
21	13,728	5,189	3,531		4,015	948	45	229	762
Number by type of disability
Autism	40,571	29,343	7,825		1,094	2,239	74	3,048	10,747
Deaf-blindness	105	62	20		20	3	1	5	26
Emotional disturbance	35,969	23,835	2,128		244	9,609	159	4,263	20,189
Hearing impairment	4,684	3,942	408		43	292	7	551	1,133
Intellectual disability	36,346	17,952	12,338		1,779	4,069	215	1,348	10,984
Multiple disabilities	9,129	4,015	3,080		834	908	304	395	2,748
Orthopedic impairment	2,308	1,510	504		77	178	44	210	547
Other health impairment7	78,729	62,733	4,718		321	10,647	316	9,904	30,858
Specific learning disability	197,816	162,864	10,569		499	23,557	347	23,117	61,662
Speech or language impairment	11,109	9,874	289		39	885	24	6,775	4,900
Traumatic brain injury	2,589	1,993	334		61	186	20	204	567
Visual impairment	1,873	1,598	158		15	96	6	161	374
2020-21
Total number	434,914	325,954	42,292	8	3,163	61,798	1,707	46,263	134,737
Percentage distribution of total	100.0	74.9	9.7		0.7	14.2	0.4	†	†
Number by sex
Male	281,642	207,363	27,787		2,129	43,176	1,187	29,734	88,771
Female	153,187	118,526	14,507		1,034	18,599	521	16,522	45,925
Number by race/ethnicity
American Indian/Alaska Native	5,695	3,918	250		20	1,481	26	542	1,766
Asian	9,254	7,172	1,341		126	563	52	977	2,228
Black	86,268	61,181	9,489		736	14,386	476	6,860	29,460
Hispanic	115,189	83,301	13,111		543	17,868	366	8,016	31,654
Pacific Islander	1,413	1,014	144		24	223	8	88	482
White	201,147	157,630	16,834		1,610	24,349	724	27,869	63,076
Two or more races	15,989	11,769	1,126		105	2,934	55	1,915	6,078
Number by age6
14	3,785	3	1		0	3,537	244	12,291	36,746
15	5,534	60	36		0	5,168	270	10,841	30,425
16	15,841	5,497	339		0	9,659	346	10,739	28,538
17	179,720	150,460	12,438		0	16,480	342	7,926	21,378
18	160,359	128,574	15,616		4	15,912	253	3,018	11,031
19	39,930	27,576	5,156		2	7,066	130	763	4,038
20	17,578	9,085	4,682		943	2,801	67	421	1,653
21	12,197	4,719	4,027		2,214	1,181	56	271	938
Number by type of disability
Autism	43,201	31,488	8,076		775	2,763	99	3,027	11,145
Deaf-blindness	114	71	27		7	4	5	7	31
Emotional disturbance	37,001	24,210	2,156		186	10,293	156	3,998	16,863
Hearing impairment	4,369	3,681	352		18	311	7	462	1,018
Intellectual disability	35,118	17,150	12,052		1,046	4,657	213	1,500	9,888
Multiple disabilities	9,050	4,005	3,240		420	1,034	351	479	2,532
Orthopedic impairment	2,094	1,476	373		29	168	48	152	450
Other health impairment7	85,218	66,947	5,162		238	12,493	378	9,147	29,941
Specific learning disability	202,421	163,027	10,032		359	28,618	385	20,568	56,970
Speech or language impairment	12,070	10,480	457		25	1,079	29	6,557	4,955
Traumatic brain injury	2,490	1,914	253		44	251	28	206	525
Visual impairment	1,770	1,507	112		16	127	8	160	419

†Not applicable.

1"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.

2Received 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.

3Each 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.

4"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.

5In 2019–20, includes 96 students from two states who exited an educational program through receipt of an alternate diploma.

6Age 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.

7Other 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.

8In 2020–21, includes 419 students from four states who exited an educational program through receipt of an alternate diploma.

NOTE: Although data are for the 50 states and the District of Columbia, data limitations result in inclusion of a small (but unknown) number of students from other jurisdictions. Includes imputations for missing or unavailable data from Iowa in 2019–20 and from Iowa and New Hampshire in 2020–21. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. 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 Month Day, 2023, from https://data.ed.gov/dataset/idea-section-618-data-products-state-level-data-files. (This table was prepared January 2023.)