Post-High-School Outcomes of Youth with Disabilities

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A new report shows that youth with disabilities were more likely to be attending college in 2005 compared to 1990. The report, Comparisons Across Time of the Outcomes of Youth With Disabilities up to 4 Years After High School, was released by The National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) within the Institute of Education Sciences. The study uses data from two National Longitudinal Transition Study datasets to provide comparison data on a wide range of post-high school outcomes across time (between 1990 and 2005) of youth with disabilities who had been out of high school up to 4 years.

The outcomes cover several key areas, including: postsecondary education enrollment and educational experiences; employment status and characteristics of youth’s current or most recent job; productive engagement in school, work, or preparation for work; household circumstances, including residential independence, parenting and financial independence; and social and community involvement.

The selected findings include:

• Postsecondary enrollment rates were 19 percent higher in 2005 (46%) than in 1990 (26%) for youth with disabilities.

• Youth with disabilities were more likely to have a savings account in 2005 (56%) than in 1990 (44%).

• Reported rates of youth with disabilities participating in volunteer or community service activities were higher in 2005 (25%) than in 1990 (13%).

• Youth with disabilities as a whole did not vary significantly between 1990 (62%) and 2005 (56%) in their reported employment status

• However, in 1990, youth with disabilities were more likely to report receiving paid vacation or sick leave, compared to 2005 (60 percent vs. 38 percent).

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