July 2007

This Issue Brief examines the demographic and school 

characteristics of students receiving special education in the 

elementary school grades. Prior studies have documented the 

number of children receiving special education services in 

each year during the elementary school years by gender, race/

ethnicity, and disability (see, e.g., Offi ce of Special Education 

and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) 2003). However, little 

is known about the grade distribution of students by other 

demographic and school characteristics (such as the student’s 

poverty status and the school’s control (private/public), 

urbanicity, region, and poverty concentration).1

Data recently released by the National Center for Education 

Statistics (NCES) Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, 

Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K) allow a study of the 

demographic and school characteristics of students receiving 

special education in several grades between kindergarten 

and grade 5. Through the ECLS-K, NCES has followed a 

nationally representative sample of school children since the 

1998–99 school year, when the children were in kindergarten, 

through the 2003–04 school year, when most of the children 

were in fi fth grade. Special education data were collected in 

spring 1999 (kindergarten), spring 2000 (fi rst grade), spring 

2002 (third grade), and spring 2004 (fi fth grade).2

At each time point, ECLS-K’s main school contact, referred 

to as the School Coordinator, provided information on 

whether a student received special education services. The 

School Coordinator also identifi ed the student’s primary 

service provider (i.e., the person with primary responsibility 

for providing the student’s special education services), 

who identifi ed the student’s primary disability.3

 Additional 

information was collected on the student and the student’s 

school, including the student’s sex, race/ethnicity, and poverty 

status (poor or nonpoor)4 and the school’s control (public 

or private), urbanicity (central city, urban fringe/large town, 

or small town/rural), region, and poverty concentration 

(higher poverty schools are those with 50 percent or more 

students eligible for the National School Lunch Program; 

lower poverty schools are those with fewer than 50 percent 

of students eligible).

This Issue Brief provides a detailed description of the 

proportion of elementary school students receiving special 

education in kindergarten, fi rst grade, third grade, and fi fth 

grade; the primary disabilities of these students; and the 

variation in these measures across a range of demographic 

Demographic and School Characteristics of 

Students Receiving Special Education in the 

Elementary Grades

U.S. Department of Education

NCES 2007–005

Issue

Brief

and school characteristics.5 Table 1 presents the percentages 

of the student cohort receiving special education in the 

specifi ed grades (as reported by the School Coordinator), 

by primary disability (as identifi ed by the primary special 

education provider). Table 2 presents the percentages of 

students receiving special education in the specifi ed grades 

by other demographic characteristics (sex, race/ethnicity, and 

poverty status) and school characteristics (school control, 

urbanicity, region, and poverty concentration). Table 2 also 

reports fi ndings separately for students identifi ed as having 

a learning disability or a speech or language impairment as 

their primary disability. Other primary disabilities did not 

have suffi cient sample size to report separately.

Students Receiving Special Education, by Grade 

and Primary Disability

During the 1998–99 school year, 4.1 percent of all 

kindergartners received special education services (table 1). 

The percentage of the cohort receiving special education 

increased in each subsequent grade analyzed: 5.4 percent of 

students in fi rst grade, 9.4 percent in third grade, and 11.9 

percent in fi fth grade.

In kindergarten, the most commonly identifi ed primary 

disability was a speech or language impairment (2.3 percent 

of students). In fi rst grade, the most commonly identifi ed 

primary disabilities were a speech or language impairment 

(1.8 percent) and a specifi c learning disability (1.2 percent). In 

third and fi fth grades, the most commonly identifi ed primary 

disability was a specifi c learning disability (3.3 and 6.5 

percent, respectively). The percentage of the student cohort 

with a specifi c learning disability as a primary disability 

increased across each grade, from 0.5 percent in kindergarten 

to 6.5 percent in fi fth grade. 

Except for these two most common primary disabilities, no 

other disability had a prevalence of more than 1 percent 

in any grade. However, some other disabilities did show 

changes in prevalence over time. The percentages of students 

with an identifi ed health impairment, mental retardation, or 

a serious emotional disturbance were greater in fi fth grade 

than in kindergarten.

Characteristics of Students Receiving Special 

Education

Sex. Among the kindergarten class of 1998–99, the percentage 

of boys receiving special education (5.3 percent) was greater 
2 NCES 2007-005 Issue Brief July 2007

than that of girls (2.9 percent) (table 2). The percentage of 

boys receiving special education was also greater than that of 

girls in each of the other grades sampled.

Race/ethnicity. The percentage of students receiving special 

education showed little variation across racial/ethnic 

categories. However, the percentage of White, non-Hispanic 

students receiving special education in kindergarten (4.6 

percent) was greater than the percentage of Hispanic students 

or students in the other/more than one race category (3.3 and 

2.8 percent, respectively). In addition, a greater percentage 

of White, non-Hispanic students than Hispanic students 

received special education in fi rst grade (5.8 vs. 4.0 percent). 

Student poverty status. The percentage of poor students 

receiving special education was greater than that of nonpoor 

students in each grade. Moreover, higher percentages of poor 

students in each grade were identifi ed as having a specifi c 

learning disability as their primary disability. 

School poverty concentration and school control. A greater 

percentage of students attending higher poverty schools than 

lower poverty schools received special education in both 

kindergarten (5.6 vs. 3.9 percent) and third grade (10.2 vs. 

8.4 percent), though there were no statistically signifi cant 

differences in grades 1 or 5. In each grade, the percentage 

of public school students receiving special education services 

was greater than the percentage of private school students. 

Urbanicity. Central city schools reported lower percentages of 

students receiving special education than did schools in other 

settings in some grades. For example, lower percentages of 

children in central city schools than in urban fringe/large town 

schools received special education in kindergarten and fi rst 

grade (3.0 vs. 4.8 percent and 3.1 vs. 5.5 percent, respectively). 

Also, in each of the grades sampled, lower percentages of 

children in central city schools than in small town/rural schools 

received special education (3.0 vs. 5.0 percent in kindergarten, 

3.1 vs. 8.8 percent in fi rst grade, 8.3 vs. 10.7 percent in third 

grade, and 10.5 vs. 14.6 percent in fi fth grade). 

Region. By region, students in the West were less likely 

than students in the Northeast and South to receive special 

education in kindergarten (2.0 vs. 6.2 and 5.3 percent, 

respectively), fi rst grade (2.2 vs. 5.6 and 7.5 percent), and 

third grade (6.3 vs. 11.1 and 10.7 percent). A smaller 

percentage of students in the Midwest than in the Northeast 

and the South received special education in kindergarten (2.6 

vs. 6.2 and 5.3 percent, respectively). In fi fth grade there 

were no statistically signifi cant differences across regions in 

the percentage of students receiving special education—in all 

regions the estimate ranged between 11 and 13 percent.

Conclusion

For the cohort of students beginning kindergarten in 

1998, specifi c learning disabilities and speech or language 

impairments were the most prevalent primary disabilities 

over the grades studied. The percentage of the student 

cohort receiving special education grew from 4.1 percent in 

kindergarten to 11.9 percent of students in fi fth grade. Higher 

percentages of boys than girls and of poor students than 

nonpoor students received special education. Also, greater 

percentages of students in higher poverty rather than lower 

poverty schools received special education in kindergarten 

and third grade. Higher percentages of students in the South 

and Northeast than in the West received special education in 

three of the four grades. And, higher percentages of students in 

small town/rural schools than in central city schools received 

special education in each of the four grades. Finally, in each 

grade studied, public schools reported higher percentages of 

students receiving special education than did private schools. 

This Issue Brief does not follow individual students over 

time through the elementary grades to determine if the 

same students received special education across years and 

if the primary disability for which students received special 

education services changed across years. However, the ECLSK would support such a longitudinal analysis. The ECLS-K 

follows children through the cohort’s eighth grade year.

References

Holt, E.W., McGrath, D.J., and Herring, W.L. (2007). 

Timing and Duration of Student Participation in Special 

Education in the Primary Grades. U.S. Department 

of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for 

Education Statistics.

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services 

(OSERS). (2003). Twenty-fifth Annual Report to 

Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals 

With Disabilities Education Act. U.S. Department of 

Education. Washington, DC: Author

Table 1. Percentage of the kindergarten class of 1998–99 

receiving special education in various grades, by 

sex and disability: 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2001–02, and 

2003–04

Primary disability

Kindergarten Grade 1 Grade 3 Grade 5

All disabilities 4.14 5.36 9.36 11.89

Autism 0.06 ! 0.07 ! 0.11 0.16 !

Blind/visual impairment # # # #

Deaf/blind # # # #

Deaf/hard of hearing 0.03 ! 0.02 0.06 ! 0.04 !

Development delay 0.33 0.46 0.14 ! #

Health impairment 0.09 0.11 0.39 0.88

Specifi c learning disability 0.48 1.22 3.26 6.49

Mental retardation 0.12 0.35 0.41 0.94

Multiple impairments 0.07 ! 0.06 ! 0.11 ! 0.07 !

Physical impairment 0.08 ! 0.10 ! 0.09 ! 0.19 !

Serious emotional 

disturbance 0.06 ! 0.14 0.33 0.73

Speech or language 

impairment 2.27 1.80 1.42 1.35

Traumatic brain injury # # # #

Missing primary disability 0.55 1.01 2.98 0.85

# Rounds to zero.

! Interpret data with caution. Standard error is more than one-third as large as the 

estimate.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Not all apparent differences in 

this table are statistically signifi cant. Standard errors are available at http://nces.ed.gov/

pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007005. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K), “Special 

Education Teacher/Service Provider Questionnaire,” spring 1999, spring 2000, spring 2002, 

and spring 2004.
NCES 2007-005 Issue Brief July 2007 3

Endnotes

1

 Holt, McGrath, and Herring (2007) reported the student and school 

characteristics of special education students for combinations of 

grades but not for single grades or grades past third grade.

2 Data on special education were not collected in the second 

grade or fourth grade years. The ECLS-K sample includes 21,260 

kindergartners, 16,636 fi rst-graders, 14,393 third-graders, and 

11,820 fi fth-graders for whom special education data are available. 

The analysis weighted cases using the C2CW0, C4CW0, C5CW0, 

and C6CW0 weighting variables for kindergarten, fi rst grade, third 

grade, and fi fth grade, respectively. 

3

 All students with an identifi ed primary disability must fi rst have 

been identifi ed as receiving special education services by the School 

Coordinator. Although students may have received services for more 

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest. All estimates shown are based on samples and are subject to sampling variability. 

All differences discussed are statistically signifi cant at the .05 level as measured by two-tailed Student’s t tests and Wald tests; this means a difference is discussed 

only if the probability that it is due to chance (i.e., sampling variability) is less than 1 in 20. No adjustments were made for multiple comparisons. In the design, 

conduct, and data processing of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling errors, such as 

item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other systematic error. For more information on the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, please 

visit http://nces.ed.gov/ecls.

This Issue Brief was authored by William L. Herring (MacroSys Research & Technology) of the Education Statistics Services Institute (ESSI), Daniel J. McGrath of NCES, 

and Jacquelyn A. Buckley of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). It was desktopped by Michael Stock (MacroSys Research & Technology) and edited by 

Martin Hahn (American Institutes for Research) of ESSI. For further information, contact Edith McArthur, NCES, at 202-502-7393 or edith.mcarthur@ed.gov. To order 

additional copies of this Issue Brief or other NCES publications, call 1-877-4ED-Pubs. NCES publications are also available on the Internet at http://nces.ed.gov. 

than one disability only students’ primary disability, as identifi ed by the 

student’s primary service provider, is addressed in this Issue Brief.

4

 Data on household income and the number of people living in the 

household are combined with estimates of the poverty threshold 

published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census to classify children as 

“poor” or “nonpoor.” Children in families whose incomes are at or 

below the poverty threshold are classifi ed as poor; those in families 

with incomes above the poverty threshold are classifi ed as nonpoor.

5

 This Issue Brief refers to children by the grade of the overall ECLS-K 

cohort at the time, although not all children in the analytic sample 

were enrolled in the grade. In spring 2000, 94 percent of the children 

in the analytic sample were in fi rst grade; in spring 2002, 88 percent 

were in third grade; in spring 2004, 86 percent were in fi fth grade.

Table 2. Percentage of the kindergarten class of 1998–99 receiving special education in various grades, by primary disability and 

student and school characteristics: 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2001–02, and 2003–04

Student or school characteristic

Kindergarten Grade 1 Grade 3 Grade 5

All disabilities SLI1 LD2All disabilities SLI1 LD2All disabilities SLI1 LD2All disabilities SLI1 LD2

All students 4.14 2.27 0.48 5.36 1.80 1.22 9.36 1.42 3.26 11.89 1.35 6.49

Student characteristics

Sex

Male 5.29 2.90 0.59 6.60 2.18 1.47 12.62 1.83 4.43 14.82 1.65 8.53

Female 2.90 1.61 0.36 4.05 1.40 0.95 5.88 0.97 2.01 8.75 1.04 4.31

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 4.60 2.62 0.45 5.83 2.02 1.36 9.64 1.62 3.40 12.45 1.32 6.66

Black, non-Hispanic 4.21 1.81 0.58 5.46 1.52 0.70 9.31 1.00 2.69 11.94 1.64! 5.47

Hispanic 3.26 1.95 0.54 3.98 1.45 1.19! 8.66 0.86 3.36 11.35 1.35! 7.22

Other/more than one race, 

non-Hispanic 2.79 1.56 0.32 4.72 1.64 1.30! 9.19 2.25 3.17 9.35 0.99 5.92

Poverty3

Poor 5.82 2.77 1.02 6.96 1.89 1.91 13.14 1.38 4.27 18.26 2.90 8.39

Nonpoor 3.71 2.18 0.32 4.85 1.90 0.83 8.01 1.37 2.95 9.60 0.94 5.72

School characteristics

School control

Public 4.62 2.54 0.54 5.94 1.95 1.38 10.21 1.54 3.58 12.89 1.52 7.00

Private 1.35 0.75 0.11 1.38 0.75! 0.12! 2.53 0.44! 0.58 4.65! 0.11! 2.87!

Urbanicity

Central city 2.97 1.36 0.38 3.12 0.74 0.53 8.25 1.04 2.52 10.47 1.42 6.54

Urban fringe/large town 4.77 3.02 0.44 5.52 2.26 0.99 9.77 1.54 3.49 11.07 1.13 5.77

Small town/rural 5.01 2.45 0.74 8.83 2.74 2.85 10.75 1.83 4.24 14.65 1.97 7.02

Region

Northeast 6.19 3.24 0.72 5.56 1.38 1.29 11.15 0.92 4.13 12.68 1.45! 7.13

Midwest 2.62 1.20 0.47 4.61 0.81 0.92 8.82 1.51 3.72 12.74 1.12! 8.03

South 5.34 3.08 0.58 7.51 2.96 1.71 10.69 1.87 3.26 11.90 1.53 5.21

West 1.97 1.21! 0.10 2.24 1.18 0.62! 6.26 0.92 2.08 10.81 1.25! 6.85

Poverty concentration4

Higher poverty 5.62 2.94 0.79 7.00 2.35 2.15 10.23 1.43 3.68 12.21 1.46 6.24

Lower poverty 3.86 2.16 0.35 5.91 2.14 1.08 8.36 1.66 3.52 12.77 1.49 7.24

! Interpret data with caution. Standard error is more than one-third as large as the estimate.

1 Speech or language impairment.

2 Specifi c learning disability.

3 Children in families whose incomes are at or below the poverty threshold are classifi ed as poor; those in families with incomes above the poverty threshold are classifi ed as nonpoor.

4 Higher poverty schools are those with 50 percent or more students eligible for the National School Lunch Program; lower poverty schools are those with fewer than 50 percent of 

students eligible.

NOTE: Not all apparent differences in this table are statistically signifi cant. Standard errors are available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007005. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K), “Special Education 

Teacher/Service Provider Questionnaire,” spring 1999, spring 2000, spring 2002, and spring 2004.
Demographic and School Characteristics of Students 

Receiving Special Education in the Elementary Grades

U.S. Department of Education

ED Pubs

8242-B Sandy Court

Jessup, MD 20794-1398

NCES 2007–005

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest.

Issue

Brief