Fast Facts

Question:
What percentage of students with disabilities are educated in regular classrooms?

Response:
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), enacted in 1975¹, requires public schools to make available to all eligible children with disabilities a free public education in the least restrictive environment² appropriate for their needs. In 1997, Congress passed amendments to IDEA,³ mandating for the first time that states collect data on the race/ethnicity of students identified as having special education needs.

The number and percentage of children and youth ages 3� receiving special education services increased nearly every year since the inception of IDEA until 2004�. However, the number and percentage declined between 2004� and 2006�.

In 1976�, some 3.7 million children and youth were served under IDEA, representing 5 percent of all children and youth ages 3�. By 2006�, some 6.7 million children and youth received IDEA services, corresponding to about 9 percent of all children and youth ages 3�. Among students served under IDEA in 2006�, about 1 percent were American Indian/Alaska Native, 2 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander, 17 percent were Hispanic, 20 percent were Black, and 59 percent were White⁴.

¹ The most recent reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) occured in 2004.
² A least restrictive environment is determined on a case-by-case basis to ensure that each student抯 special needs are met, while allowing that student the maximum possible exposure to students without disabilities as well as the general education curriculum.
³ Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997 (P.L. 105-17).
⁴ Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2008). The Condition of Education 2008 (NCES 2008-031), Indicator 8.

NOTE: Students with disabilities are those students served under "Assistance for education of all children with disabilities" (Part B) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in the United States and outlying areas. Number of children and youth served as a percentage of all children and youth ages 3� enrolled in education centers and elementary and secondary schools. Data are taken from a universe survey. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2008). The Condition of Education 2008(NCES 2008-031), Table 8-1.

Related Tables and Figures:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2008, Digest of Education Statistics 2007, Table 48. Percentage distribution of students with disabilities 6 to 21 years old receiving education services for the disabled, by educational environment and type of disability: Selected years, fall 1989 through fall 2005
  
• 2001, Table 12. Percent of public schools with students with various disabilities, and of those, percent with special hardware and special software for these students, by type of disability and by school characteristics: 2001