For decades the state has tracked what happens to its special-needs students after they leave high school. But to what end? What’s reasonable to expect for the kids with autism, learning disabilities like dyslexia or difficulty regulating emotions?
Nationally, graduation rates for special education students vary widely — from 22.5 percent in Mississippi to 80.4 in Arkansas. As is true for many education outcomes in Washington, we fall right in the middle, at 54.5 percent for the 2012-13 school year.
But what about after graduation?
Washington polls its former special-needs students, and last month released the most recent results: Of 5,354 disabled youth who left high school in 2012-13 and responded to the state’s survey, only 24 percent were enrolled in college one year later, a rate no better or worse than two years before.
Another 28 percent, about 1,500 students, reported that they were employed, which was a slight uptick from those with solid jobs in 2010-11.