According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released July 2, 2026, between the 2012-13 and 2023-24 school years 42 states and the District of Columbia increased the share of students with disabilities in general education classes. The number of students with disabilities spending some of their school day in general education classrooms steadily increased over the past decade, driven by a rise in students who spend at least 80% of their time learning alongside their peers without disabilities. However, state data varied, with some states like North Dakota and Ohio seeing decreases in the portion of students with disabilities who spend at least 40% of their day in general education classrooms over that same time period.
GAO researchers also found certain characteristics of districts that had a higher percentage of students with disabilities who spent at least 40% of their day in general education classrooms.
Also, the same time that the number of students with disabilities learning in general education classrooms for much of the day increased by 25%, the overall number of students with disabilities increased by 21% from the 2012-13 to 2023-24 school years, according to the report.
More recent data shows a continued rise in the number of students with disabilities. About 8.2 million students ages 3-21 qualified for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2024. That’s a 12.6% increase between 2019 and 2024, according to The Advocacy Institute’s analysis of data collected by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE).
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