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Digest of Education Statistics
1996 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 103.Students with disabilities exiting the educational system, by age, type of disability, and basis of exit:United States and outlying areas, 1991-92 and 1992-93

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                                   |                                  1991-92                                                        |          1992-93 \1\
                                   |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------
                                   |      Total     |   Graduated    |   Graduated   |   Reached     |               |    Other      |Graduated| Graduated |Reached
              Student              |     exiting    |     with       |    through    |   maximum     |    Dropped    |   reasons     |  with   |  through  |maximum
          characteristics          |    the system  |    diploma     |  certificate  |    age\2\     |     out\3\    |  for exit\4\  | diploma |certificate| age\2\
                                   |----------------|----------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------|-----------|--------
                                   | Number |Percent| Number |Percent|Number |Percent|Number |Percent|Number |Percent|Number |Percent| Number  |  Number   | Number
-----------------------------------|--------|-------|--------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|---------|-----------|--------
                 1                 |   2    |   3   |   4    |   5   |   6   |   7   |   8   |   9   |  10   |  11   |  12   |  13   |   14    |    15     |   16
-----------------------------------|--------|-------|--------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|---------|-----------|--------
             Age group             |        |       |        |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |         |           |
14 to 21 (and over) ...............|229,368 | 100.0 |100,742 |  43.9 |30,839 |  13.4 | 4,337 |   1.9 |51,489 |  22.4 |41,961 |  18.3 | 103,801 |    34,732 |  5,096
  14 ..............................| 11,403 | 100.0 |    138 |   1.2 |   223 |   2.0 |     8 |   0.1 | 3,460 |  30.3 | 7,574 |  66.4 |     130 |        65 |      6
  15 ..............................| 12,934 | 100.0 |    171 |   1.3 |   158 |   1.2 |    16 |   0.1 | 4,768 |  36.9 | 7,821 |  60.5 |     110 |        92 |     51
  16 ..............................| 20,634 | 100.0 |    505 |   2.4 |   217 |   1.1 |    44 |   0.2 |11,479 |  55.6 | 8,389 |  40.7 |     477 |       143 |     45
  17 ..............................| 36,665 | 100.0 | 14,356 |  39.2 | 1,929 |   5.3 |    70 |   0.2 |12,678 |  34.6 | 7,632 |  20.8 |  16,178 |     2,209 |     91
  18 ..............................| 69,081 | 100.0 | 45,063 |  65.2 | 7,263 |  10.5 |   115 |   0.2 |11,060 |  16.0 | 5,580 |   8.1 |  47,398 |     8,396 |    168
  19 ..............................| 45,079 | 100.0 | 29,325 |  65.1 | 7,593 |  16.8 |    68 |   0.2 | 5,461 |  12.1 | 2,632 |   5.8 |  28,275 |     8,596 |    197
  20 ..............................| 18,131 | 100.0 |  7,444 |  41.1 | 7,190 |  39.7 |   588 |   3.2 | 1,777 |   9.8 | 1,132 |   6.2 |   7,572 |     8,339 |    727
  21 (and over) ...................| 15,441 | 100.0 |  3,740 |  24.2 | 6,266 |  40.6 | 3,428 |  22.2 |   806 |   5.2 | 1,201 |   7.8 |   3,661 |     6,892 |  3,811
                                   |        |       |        |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |         |           |
        Type of disability         |        |       |        |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |         |           |
All disabilities, 14 to 21 and over|229,368 | 100.0 |100,742 |  43.9 |30,839 |  13.4 | 4,337 |   1.9 |51,489 |  22.4 |41,961 |  18.3 | 103,801 |    34,732 |  5,096
  Specific learning disabilities ..|132,497 | 100.0 | 65,851 |  49.7 |14,318 |  10.8 |   662 |   0.5 |28,257 |  21.3 |23,409 |  17.7 |  69,309 |    17,156 |    746
  Mental retardation ..............| 38,993 | 100.0 | 14,088 |  36.1 |10,797 |  27.7 | 2,359 |   6.0 | 7,650 |  19.6 | 4,099 |  10.5 |  12,718 |    11,305 |  2,662
  Serious emotional disturbance ...| 34,001 | 100.0 |  9,557 |  28.1 | 2,217 |   6.5 |   338 |   1.0 |11,894 |  35.0 | 9,995 |  29.4 |  10,411 |     2,474 |    583
  Speech or language impairments ..|  8,108 | 100.0 |  3,562 |  43.9 |   596 |   7.4 |    87 |   1.1 | 1,633 |  20.1 | 2,230 |  27.5 |   3,516 |       514 |    116
  Multiple disabilities .......... |  4,028 | 100.0 |  1,560 |  38.7 |   977 |  24.3 |   529 |  13.1 |   546 |  13.6 |   416 |  10.3 |   1,494 |     1,116 |    642
  Other health impairments ........|  3,642 | 100.0 |  1,771 |  48.6 |   614 |  16.9 |    67 |   1.8 |   606 |  16.6 |   584 |  16.0 |   1,815 |       627 |     65
  Hearing impairments .............|  3,403 | 100.0 |  1,900 |  55.8 |   587 |  17.2 |    69 |   2.0 |   444 |  13.0 |   403 |  11.8 |   1,851 |       660 |     41
  Orthopedic impairments ..........|  2,749 | 100.0 |  1,379 |  50.2 |   439 |  16.0 |   123 |   4.5 |   252 |   9.2 |   556 |  20.2 |   1,451 |       421 |    117
  Visual impairments ..............|  1,449 | 100.0 |    879 |  60.7 |   172 |  11.9 |    55 |   3.8 |   166 |  11.5 |   177 |  12.2 |     872 |       260 |     31
  Autism ..........................|    291 | 100.0 |     82 |  28.2 |    75 |  25.8 |    29 |  10.0 |    27 |   9.3 |    78 |  26.8 |     114 |       110 |     62
  Deaf-blindness ................  |    143 | 100.0 |     72 |  50.3 |    42 |  29.4 |    15 |  10.5 |     6 |   4.2 |     8 |   5.6 |      68 |        64 |     18
  Traumatic brain injury ..........|     64 | 100.0 |     41 |  64.1 |     5 |   7.8 |     4 |   6.3 |     8 |  12.5 |     6 |   9.4 |     182 |        25 |     13
-----------------------------------|--------|-------|--------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|---------|-----------|--------

\1\Upper age limits for service eligibility vary by state.

\2\These figures reflect an estimate of those who were actually known to have dropped out and do not include youth who simply stopped coming to school or whose status was unknown.

\3\Includes students who died or no longer received special education services, but whose exit reason is unknown.

\4\ Data collection forms changed for the 1992-93 period. These three categories are compatible with previous reports.

NOTE.--It can be assumed that a substantial proportion of the "Other" category includes students who are no longer in school and have neither graduated nor reached the maximum age. Therefore, the overall dropout figure probably exceeds 23 percent.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Annual Reports to Congress on the Implementation of The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 1994 and 1995. (This table was prepared April 1996.)


1996 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest