Special Education in Alabama – The Numbers, Updated

With the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) proposing changes to the way parents can file complaints when they believe their children are not receiving appropriate special education services and accommodations, it was time to take a closer look at the number of students receiving special education services and the types of exceptionalities that are being identified in districts across Alabama.

Each October 1, districts count the number of children by exceptionality, a.k.a. disability, and submit those numbers to the federal government.

It takes a while to pull all of those numbers together, so the numbers presented below are those from October  2014.

Click here to view the numbers and visualizations from the October 2013 Child Count.

Use the map below to view the percentage of students identified by exceptionality. Use the pull-down menu to change from one exceptionality to another.

Here is a look at the percentages of students in each district by each exceptionality. 

Finally, here is a look at each district with the entire distribution of students with exceptionalities indicated within the bar.