Publications/Data Product

The National Center for Special Education at the Institute of Education Sciences has released the twelfth report from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2). NLTS2 includes a nationally representative sample of more than 11,000 youth who were ages 13 through 16 and receiving special education services in seventh grade or above in the 2000-2001 school year. This report discusses results from the direct assessment of NLTS2 sample members when they were in the 16-18-year-old age range. Some of the major findings of this report suggest that:

1. By the time students reach secondary school, serious academic deficits are evident, with 30% of youth with disabilities scoring two standard deviations below the mean for the general population;
2. Low academic achievement is pervasive across disability categories;
3. From 22% to 38% of youth with disabilities have rating scores on functional skills (motor skills, social interaction and communication, personal living skills, community living skills) that are more than six standard deviations below the mean for youth in the general population, suggesting that functional skills are extremely difficult or impossible to complete for many youth with disabilities.

 View, download, and print the full report as a PDF file (792 KB)