Education

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Public School Statistics 101

Nearly 13 percent of public school students--or about 5.9 million kids--were enrolled in programs for the disabled in the 1997-98 school year, according to a US Education Department study. That's up 8 percent from the 1976-77 year. Researchers attribute much of the increase to the proportion of students identified as learning disabled.

Percentage of public school students enrolled in programs for the disabled:

	1976-77	1997-98
All disabilities	8.3	12.8
Learning disabled	1.8	5.9
Speech or language	2.9	2.3
Mental retardation	2.2	1.3
Emotionally disturbed	0.64	0.98
Hearing impaired	0.2	0.15
Other	0.56	2.17

Source: Washington Post, 3/6/01
Washington Post Sources: US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics 1999

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