Increasing the dialogue among stakeholders in New Jersey’s special education system
  1. The nearly 7 million students with disabilities in the U.S. make up 14% of national public school enrollment, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
  2. According to the Pew Charitable Trust, the percentage of students with disabilities in New Jersey grew seven percent from 2001 – 2018. Nationwide, the percentage of students with disabilities grew 11% during the same time period.
  3. The most common type of disability for students in prekindergarten through 12th grade is a “specific learning disability.” Roughly a third (34%) of students with disabilities had a specific learning disability.
  4. In 2017, students with autism comprise 10% of the nation’s schoolchildren with disabilities compared with only 1.5% nearly two decades earlier.
  5. The percentage of students in special education varies widely among the states. New York state serves the largest share of disabled students in the country (19.2%), followed by Pennsylvania (18.6%), Maine (18.4%) and Massachusetts (18%). Texas serves the fewest (9.2%), followed by Hawaii (10.6%) and Idaho (11%).
  6. Nationwide, about two-thirds of students with disabilities are male (67%), while 33% are female.

State by State rates of Special Education provision

Source:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/23/as-schools-shift-to-online-learning-amid-pandemic-heres-what-we-know-about-disabled-students-in-the-u-s/