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Facts From NLTS2: High School Completion by Youth With Disabilities

NLTS 2200511
November 2005

Summing Up

There has been an increase over time in the percentage of youth with disabilities who complete high school; according to NLTS2, 72 percent achieve that milestone. However, this mark of success is much more common for some youth than others. Those with sensory or orthopedic impairments finish school at much higher rates, for example, than youth with multiple disabilities or emotional disturbances. Hispanic youth with disabilities and those from the lowest-income households also lag behind others in their high school completion rates.

Whether youth with disabilities finish or drop out of high school is associated with marked differences in their experiences in the early postschool years. A high school diploma gives graduates with disabilities access to a college education that is unavailable to most dropouts. Although the two groups are equally likely to be working for pay after high school, dropouts work longer hours, on average, thereby generating greater income.

But the decision to drop out of high school is reversible. About 3 in 10 dropouts with disabilities pursue a high school diploma within 2 years of first leaving school, and about one-third of those youth with disabilities earn their high school credential in that time period.