The report offers a brief overview of what is currently known about the U.S. population of students with disabilities in secondary and postsecondary education. It is the primary federal act providing for special education and related services for children with disabilities between birth and 21 years old. Approximately 13% of the K-12 student population received IDEA services in the 2013-2014 school year (SY). The 1997 and 2004 amendments to the IDEA have supported students with disabilities graduating with regular diplomas and transitioning to postsecondary education by 
increasing local education agencies' (LEAs) accountability for improving the performance of students with IEPs, emphasizing students' progress toward meaningful educational and postsecondary goals in the IEP process, and requiring states to develop IDEA performance goals and indicators, including dropout and graduation rates, and to report to the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) and the public on the progress of the state and of students with disabilities in the state toward these indicators at least every two years. Recently, in addition to AFGR data for the general population of high school students, ED has begun releasing a more precise estimate called a four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR). The result was the first National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS), a five-year study beginning in SY1985-1986 that tracked a nationally representative sample of more than 8,000 students representing each of the federal disabilities categories. In addition, the NLTS2 found that a majority of secondary school-aged students with disabilities (60%) continued on to postsecondary education within eight years of leaving high school, and most of them began postsecondary studies within a year of leaving high school. In the most recent administration of the NPSAS (SY2011-2012), 11% of undergraduates and 5% of post-baccalaureate students reported having a disability. For example, the increase in postsecondary students self-identifying as disabled as they grow older may reflect more about the reluctance of students who have recently exited high school special education programs to adopt the disability label in their new postsecondary institution than it does about actual increases in the number of disabilities among older undergraduate students. Factors Contributing to High School Graduation and College Enrollment Trends among Transition-Aged Students with Disabilities

High school graduation and college enrollment have increased considerably for all students in recent decades. According to ED data, more than two-thirds of students with autism (68%) and three-quarters of students with TBI (75%) graduated from high school with a regular diploma in SY2014-2015.
In recent decades, many federal policies have attempted to help prepare students with disabilities to complete high school and to continue into postsecondary education. Corollary interest has arisen in being able to track the progress being made toward achieving these aims.
This report offers a brief overview of what is currently known about the U.S. population of students with disabilities as they advance through secondary education and into postsecondary education. It devotes particular attention to high school graduation trends and data on postsecondary enrollment. Within the limitations of available data, some of the noteworthy information presented in the report includes the following:
Roughly 70% of high-school aged students receiving services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the primary federal act providing services to students with disabilities in elementary and secondary schools, graduated with a regular high school diploma in the 2014-2015 school year (SY), up substantially from the 27% receiving regular diplomas nearly 20 years earlier. A different measure of graduation rates, the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR), which captures those graduating within four years of entering high school, suggests that in SY2014-2015 roughly 65% of students with disabilities graduated high school within that time frame, compared to approximately 82% of the total population of students. Data on post-high school experiences of a nationally representative sample of 13 to 16 year old students receiving special education services in 2000 (who were followed for eight years through the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2) found that 60% enrolled in postsecondary education within eight years of leaving high school; two-year postsecondary programs were the most common destination. More recent data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, examining a nationally representative sample of all students enrolled in postsecondary institutions in SY2011-2012, indicates that roughly 11% of all undergraduates and 5% of all post-baccalaureate students self-identify as having a disability, with higher percentages among older undergraduate students (16%) and veterans (21%); however, there are many known limitations associated with self-reported data of this nature.