Graduation Rates for Students with Disabilities on the Rise

http://goo.gl/CjCbJF

Recently, the U.S. Department of Education broke out four-year graduation rates for different student subgroups as of the 2012-13 school year. My colleagues over at Politics K-12examined the numbers for students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches and for students who are ethnic and racial minorities. But let's take a closer look at what the numbers show for students with disabilities, and the cautions one must take when analyzing these figures.

The graduation rate for students with disabilities was 61.9 percent. But the rates in individual states can vary widely—from 22.5 percent in Mississippi to 80.4 in neighboring Arkansas—as you can see from this handy map: