Only .73%* of students are identified as having an ED for IEP.
For purposes of an IEP, the term “Emotional Disturbance” is used to define youth with a mental illness that is affecting their ability to succeed in school.
Early identification for IEPs is critical. IEPs provide the services, accommodations and support students with ED need to receive a quality education. Inadequate education leads to poor outcomes such as low academic achievement, social isolation, unemployment, and involvement in the juvenile system. Further, the federal eligibility criteria to identify students as having an emotional disturbance for an IEP have indicated extremely poor reliability among school psychologists, and therefore must be revised to adequately identify students in need of more supports.
*The rate for this measure is shown as a rate per 1,000 students. The calculation was made this way for ease of reading. Unfortunately, doing so hides the fact that the percentages are significantly lower. If states were doing a better job of identifying whether youth had emotional difficulties that could be better supported through an IEP – the rates would be closer to 7 percent instead of .7 percent.
The state rate of students identified as having an Emotional Disturbance (ED) for an IEP ranges from 27.72% per 1,000 students in Vermont to 2.02% per 1,000 students in Alabama.
High percentages are associated with positive outcomes and low percentages are associated with poorer outcomes