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:
- 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?
- 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%).