Posted on April 2, 2020
Categories: equity, special education, system trends

This brief provides a descriptive summary of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) classifications of students in the School District of Philadelphia during the 2018-19 school year. It describes the data according to two guiding questions:

  1. What are the IEP classifications of students in the School District of Philadelphia? How do these classifications vary by student demographic characteristics? By grade spans?
  2. How do attendance and suspension outcomes of students with IEPs compare to the District average?

Key findings include:

  • The most common primary IEP classification was specific learning disability (40% of IEPs).
  • 47% of the students with IEPs had more than one disability.
  • Male students with IEPs outnumbered female students with IEPs by two to one (68% male students vs. 32% female students).
  • The distribution of IEP classifications varied by race and ethnicity: 48% of Hispanic/Latino students with IEPs had the classification specific learning disability (compared to the District average of 40%), and 26% of Asian students with IEPs had the classification autism (compared to the District average of 15%).

Use the button to download the 17-page brief.