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Perceptions and Expectations of Youth With Disabilities  (NLTS2)
NCSER 2007-3006
September 2007

Table 18.  Youth with disabilities' reported expectations for their future educational attainment, by disability category

Expectations1 Learning disability Speech/ language impairment Mental retardation Emotional disturbance Hearing impairment Visual impairment Orthopedic impairment Other health impairment Autism Traumatic brain injury Multiple disabilities Deaf-blindness
Percent / standard error
Percentage expected to:                        
Graduate from high school with a regular diploma                        
Definitely will 87.9 77.0 73.7 83.7 85.9 90.9 81.5 79.9 77.0 93.1 70.4
(3.50) (4.92) (7.10) (4.47) (7.69) (4.67) (5.75) (4.78) (8.23) (5.84) (9.64)  
Probably will 9.0 21.1 22.5 10.3 10.7 8.0 17.1 15.1 21.4 6.8 24.1
(3.07) (4.77) (6.73) (3.68) (6.83) (4.41) (5.58) (4.27) (8.02) (5.80) (9.03)  
Definitely or probably won't 3.0 2.0 3.7 6.0 3.4 1.1 1.4 5.1 1.6 0.1 5.5
(1.83) (1.64) (3.04) (2.87) (4.00) (1.69) (1.74) (2.62) (2.45) (0.73) (4.82)  
Get any postsecondary education                        
Definitely will 53.3 58.8 37.7 56.2 79.9 69.9 62.2 49.6 47.2 66.9 47.1 55.4
(4.34) (4.60) (6.25) (4.71) (6.36) (5.86) (5.86) (4.87) (8.44) (9.06) (8.42) (11.17)
Probably will 34.0 30.6 41.6 30.1 15.4 24.1 24.0 35.8 37.2 24.3 37.8
(4.30) (6.35) (4.35) (5.72) (5.46) (5.16) (4.67) (8.17) (8.26) (8.18) (4.30)  
Definitely or probably won't 12.7 10.6 20.7 13.7 4.7 6.0 13.7 14.6 15.6 8.8 15.1 19.1
(2.90) (2.88) (5.22) (3.26) (3.36) (3.03) (4.15) (3.44) (6.13) (5.45) (6.04) (8.83)
Complete postsecondary vocational, technical, or trade school                        
Definitely will 26.9 22.4 22.1 29.3 22.5 17.4 20.2 20.0 13.3 35.0 17.8
(4.97) (5.03) (6.68) (5.65) (9.27) (6.71) (6.32) (5.01) (6.88) (11.43) (8.06)  
Probably will 34.5 42.1 24.6 35.5 40.4 45.3 34.5 33.2 40.2 31.0 40.5
(5.33) (5.96) (6.93) (5.94) (10.90) (8.81) (7.49) (5.89) (9.93) (11.08) (10.35)  
Definitely or probably won't 38.6 35.5 53.3 35.2 37.1 37.3 45.3 46.8 46.5 34.0 41.7
(5.46) (5.77) (8.03) (5.93) (10.73) (8.56) (7.84) (6.25) (10.11) (11.35) (10.39)  
                         
Percentage expected to:                        
Complete 2-year college                        
Definitely will 36.6 31.9 22.5 32.3 42.4 34.6 32.5 29.9 24.5 52.6 25.5 34.1
(4.16) (4.18) (5.18) (4.42) (6.31) (6.05) (5.56) (4.38) (6.69) (9.55) (6.69) (8.94)
Probably will 39.0 37.0 39.0 39.7 28.0 34.3 39.0 37.5 37.2 31.0 35.2
(4.21) (4.33) (6.06) (4.62) (5.73) (6.04) (5.79) (4.63) (7.52) (8.85) (7.33)  
Definitely or probably won't 24.4 31.1 38.5 28.0 29.6 31.1 28.5 32.6 38.3 16.4 39.4 34.0
(3.71) (4.15) (6.04) (4.24) (5.83) (5.89) (5.35) (4.48) (7.56) (7.08) (7.50) (8.93)
Complete 4-year college                        
Definitely will 25.2 35.2 16.1 26.8 47.2 39.0 38.7 22.6 20.6 42.9 24.8 41.8
(3.75) (4.30) (4.53) (4.18) (6.33) (6.23) (5.60) (3.98) (6.16) (9.36) (6.67) (9.41)
Probably will 38.0 34.7 35.9 28.0 32.3 42.2 27.8 30.3 33.6 31.9 21.1
(4.19) (4.29) (5.91) (4.24) (5.93) (6.31) (5.15) (4.37) (7.19) (8.82) (6.30)  
Definitely or probably won't 36.8 30.1 48.0 45.3 20.5 18.8 33.6 47.1 45.8 25.2 54.1 30.1
(4.16) (4.13) (6.16) (4.70) (5.12) (4.99) (5.43) (4.75) (7.59) (8.21) (7.70) (8.75)
Responses for items with fewer than 30 respondents are not reported.
1 Youth who have attained the outcome are included as "definitely will."
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Special Education Research, National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2), Wave 2 youth telephone interview/mail survey, 2003.

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