Outcomes for K12 Students with Disabilities up to Five Years after High School

Published April 2023

Overview

This study investigates the descriptive outcomes of students with disabilities (SWD) from the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) schools from 2012-2019.

Combining data from USBE, the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE), and the Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS), the study inquires about demographic characteristics, career and technical education (CTE) enrollment, postsecondary outcomes, and annual income for SWDs.

The literature indicates that SWDs fall behind their peers without disabilities in school. While progress has been made since the 1980s, the data still indicate that SWDs enroll and graduate from postsecondary institutions at lower rates than their peers without disabilities. Furthermore, individuals with disabilities have lower wages than their peers without disabilities.

In this study, 22,203 individuals participated in special education classrooms from 2012-2019. Of those students, 63.1% were men, while 36.5% were women. Students could have earned a postsecondary award (degree or technical certificate) any time after high school through calendar year 2019.

Summary of Findings

Finding 1: The postsecondary credential most commonly earned by students with disabilities was a certificate taking less than one year to complete.

Finding 2: By the fifth year after college, four of the five most popular postsecondary programs’ graduates earned similar wages.

Finding 3: Generally, students with disabilities who participated more often in a regular classroom setting had higher postsecondary enrollment rates.

Finding 4: Students with disabilities who participated in regular classroom settings the least had lower wages than those who participated more.

Finding 5: Students with disabilities who completed a CTE pathway enrolled and graduated from postsecondary schools at higher rates than other levels of CTE participation.

View Glossary of Terms

Detailed Findings

Finding 1: The postsecondary credential most commonly earned by students with disabilities was a certificate taking less than one year to complete.

12.8%
of students
with a visual or hearing impairment
completed a
postsecondary award.

4.4%
of students
with
other health impairments completed a
postsecondary award.

Examining SWDs who graduated from college, students received less-than-one-year certificates at the at the highest rates, followed by associate degrees and one-year certificates.
- A majority of students with a specific learning disability and emotional distubance earned less than one-year certificates. Students with all other disability types had a significant number of students earn less than one-year certificates.
- Individuals with other health impairments and specific learning disabilities had one-year certificates as their second-most received award type.

Figure 1: The figure below separates SWDs by the disability for which they received services and their highest postsecondary achievements. Only students who graduated from a USHE postsecondary institution are included here.

Finding 2: By the fifth year after college, four of the five most popular postsecondary programs’ graduates earned similar wages.

Students with disabilities
most frequently completed programs in
Health, General Studies, Mechanic and Repair Technologies, Precision Production, and
Personal and Culinary Services.

Students with
disabilities that
graduated
from
Mechanic and
Repair
Technologies/Technicians
had the
highest wages.

One year after high school, SWDs who completed Personal and Culinary, Health, and General Studies programs earned $11,231, $8,831, and $11,145 annually, respectively.
One year after high school, Mechanic and Precision Production had wages separated by less than $1,500 annually, earning $18,293 and $16,857, respectively.
By the fifth year after college, four of the five programs’ graduates earned similar wages.
- Health, General Studies, Precision production, and Personal and Culinary graduates had wages between approximately $18,800 and $20,100.
- Mechanic graduates, in comparison, had a median income of $37,954.

Figure 2: The figure below shows the annual median wages for the top five completed programs for SWDs up to five years after high school.

Finding 3: Generally, students with disabilities who participated more often in a regular classroom setting had higher postsecondary enrollment rates.

Students who participated
at least 80%
of the day in a
regular classroom setting
had the highest
postsecondary enrollment rates.

52.7%
of students with a speech/language
impairment
enrolled in postsecondary education.

The highest enrollment rate for a single group was for students with a speech/language impairment, who attended a regular classroom setting at least 80% of the time with 52.7% enrolling.
- In comparison, individuals with the same disability that participated in a regular classroom setting 40-79% and less than 40% of the day enrolled at rates of 32.6% and 29.4%, respectively.
SWDs who participated more than 80% of the day had higher postsecondary completion rates than students who participated less.
- Similarly, students that participated 40-79% of the day had higher completion rates than students who were included less than 40% of the day.

Figure 3: The figure below separates individuals by their disability type and their time in a regular classroom setting.

Finding 4: Students with disabilities who participated in regular classroom settings the least had lower annual wages than those who participated more.

Students who participated
for 40% - 79%
of the day
in a regular classroom
had approximately the
same annual median wage
as students that
participated more.

Median annual wages for
students with disabilities
who participated
less than 40%
of the day
were significantly less
than their peers
who participated more.

One year after high school, SWDs who participated at least 80% of the day in a regular classroom earned $10,081 in median annual wages. In comparison, students who participated 40%-79% of the day earned $11,269, while those who participated less than 40% earned $8,165.
By the fifth year, all groups saw their median annual wages rise, though not equitably.
- SWDs who participated at least 80% saw their median annual wage rise by approximately $10,300, the largest wage increase, to $20,374.
- SWDs who participated 40%-79% of the day in a regular classroom saw their median annual income rise to $19,690, a difference of roughly $8,400.
- SWDs who participated the least in a regular classroom setting, less than 40% of the day, saw their annual wages increase the least; by the fifth year their median annual salary was $14,441, about $6,300 more than their annual income the first year after high school.

Figure 4: The figure below separates individuals by their inclusion in a regular classroom setting and their median annual wages up to five years after high school.

Finding 5: Students with disabilities who completed a CTE pathway enrolled and graduated from postsecondary schools at higher rates than other levels of CTE participation.

28.7% and 36.0%
of CTE participants and concentrators
with disabilities
enrolled in a
postsecondary institution
after high school.

10.3%
of
CTE completers
with a disability
obtained any type of
postsecondary award.

Among students with disabilities, CTE completers enrolled and completed postsecondary programs with the highest rates, at 40.6% and 10.3%, respectively.
The second largest subgroup, CTE concentrators, had the second largest number of students enroll in a postsecondary institution at 36.0%.
- CTE concentrators had the second-highest graduation rate at 7.5%.
CTE participants, the smallest subgroup of students who enrolled in CTE courses, had the lowest number of students enroll in higher education at 28.7%. CTE participants also had the lowest postsecondary graduation rate at 4.0%.

Figure 5: This figure separates SWDs by their CTE enrollment and displays their USBE headcount, enrollment, and graduation rates from postsecondary schools.

Limitations

Due to small sample sizes for some disability types, we aggregated them with other disabilities.
- The study combines students with a hearing impairment, visual impairment, and students that were deaf/blind into the “visual or hearing disability” category.
- The study combines students with a developmental disorder, intellectual disorder, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, or traumatic brain injury into the "other health impairment" category
This study only includes individuals from USHE institutions. Private institutions such as Brigham Young University, Ensign College, and Westminster College are not included.
The unemployment insurance (UI) wage data do not capture all income individuals may have received. For example, UI wage data do not include income from self-employment, federal agencies, black market transactions, and non-covered agriculture.

Conclusion

This study revealed that SWDs were most likely to obtain less than one-year certificates and associate degrees. However, we may expect Bachelor’s degree recipients to increase as students are out of high school longer.
SWDs included in a regular classroom setting more often had higher enrollment rates into postsecondary schools; however, the completion rate was more mixed. Students still may be enrolled, however, so we may expect to see the completion rate increase.

Full Report

Learn more about outcomes for students with disabilities

This report analyzes the descriptive outcomes of students with disabilities from 2012-2019. The report focuses on the outcomes of students who participated in regular classroom settings at varying rates and SWDs who enrolled in CTE courses.

Descriptive Outcomes of K-12 Students with Disabilities up to Five Years After High School report cover

Glossary

Autism: A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, and adversely affects a student’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences.
Deaf/blindness: Concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for students with deafness or students with blindness.
Developmental delay: In a student ages three through seven, a developmental delay means a significant delay in one or more of the following areas: physical/motor development, cognitive development, communication development, social/ emotional development, or adaptive development. The delay must adversely affect a student’s educational performance. LEAs that choose to use the classification of developmental delay must conform to the State’s definition of developmental delay, including the age range adopted by the State and the requirement that the LEA conduct a complete and individual initial evaluation.
Emotional disturbance: A condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period and to a marked degree that adversely affects a student’s educational performance:
- An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.
- An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.
- Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.
- A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
- A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. Emotional disturbance includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to socially maladjusted students unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance. Emotional disturbance is a term that covers the following two types of behavioral difficulties, which are not mutually exclusive, and which may adversely affect a student’s educational performance.
Emotional disturbance includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to socially maladjusted students unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.

Emotional disturbance is a term that covers the following two types of behavioral difficulties, which are not mutually exclusive, and may adversely affect a student’s educational performance.
- (a) Externalizing refers to behavior problems that are directed outwardly by the student toward the social environment, and usually involve behavioral excesses.
- (b) Internalizing refers to a class of behavior problems directed inwardly, often involving behavioral deficits.
Hearing impairment/deafness: An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance, but that is not included under the definition of deafness.
Intellectual disability: Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, adversely affecting a student’s educational performance.
Multiple disabilities: Concomitant impairments (such as intellectual disability/blindness or intellectual disability/orthopedic impairment) that affect a student’s educational performance. The combination of disabilities must cause such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The multiple disabilities category does not include deafness/blindness.
Orthopedic impairment: A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a student’s educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly, impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).
Other health impairment: Having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness to the educational environment, that is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, Tourette syndrome, and HIV/AIDS, or an acquired brain injury which may result from health problems such as a hypoxic event, encephalitis, meningitis, brain tumor, or stroke, and that adversely affects a student’s educational performance.
Specific learning disability: A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia, that affects a student’s educational performance. Specific learning disabilities do not include learning problems primarily resulting from visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, intellectual disability, emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
Speech/language impairment: A communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance.
Traumatic brain injury: An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance. Traumatic brain injury applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas that affect a student’s educational performance. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
Visual impairment: An impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a student’s educational performance. The term includes partial sight and blindness that adversely affect a student’s academic performance.
Less than one-year certificate: Postsecondary award, certificate, or diploma that requires less than 900 contact or clock hours.
One-year certificate: Postsecondary award, certificate, or diploma that requires between 900 and 1,800 contact hours.

References

Dickson, S., & Voorhies, L. (2020). Utah State Board of Education Special Education Rules. https://www.schools.utah.gov/file/0b19d648-9986-4629-8dd6-ba695707921c

Project
Team

Connor Hill

Researcher
(Analysis/
Report Author)

Zachary Barrus

Assistant Commissioner,
User Experience

Outcomes for K12 Students with Disabilities up to Five Years after High School

Overview

Summary of Findings

Detailed Findings

Finding 1: The postsecondary credential most commonly earned by students with disabilities was a certificate taking less than one year to complete.

Finding 2: By the fifth year after college, four of the five most popular postsecondary programs’ graduates earned similar wages.

Finding 3: Generally, students with disabilities who participated more often in a regular classroom setting had higher postsecondary enrollment rates.

Finding 4: Students with disabilities who participated in regular classroom settings the least had lower annual wages than those who participated more.

Finding 5: Students with disabilities who completed a CTE pathway enrolled and graduated from postsecondary schools at higher rates than other levels of CTE participation.

Limitations

Conclusion

Full Report

Learn more about outcomes for students with disabilities

Glossary

References

Project Team

Connor Hill

Zachary Barrus

Project
Team