According to Pew Research Center, the number of students in special education in the United States has doubled over the past four decades, creating a rising share of public-school kids who need special education services. The data is part of the National Center for Education Statistics released this summer.
The total number of students in special education went from 3.6 million in the 1976-77 school year, to almost 7.3 million in 2021-22. These students now make up 15 percent of the K-12 student population across the country, nearly double what it was in the late 1970s.
