Trends in the Educational Placement of Students With Intellectual Disability in the United States Over the Past 40 Years.
National data show school inclusion for students with ID has flat-lined, even as housing and labels shifted.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Brock (2018) looked at 40 years of U.S. school records. The team tracked where students with intellectual disability spent each school day.
They counted how many kids were in separate rooms, part-time general ed, or full inclusion. The study ran from the late 1970s through the 2010s.
What they found
Slow gains toward inclusive classes stopped around 2000. Most students with ID still spend most of the day in special-ed rooms.
Separate placement remains the norm, not the exception.
How this fits with other research
Jones et al. (2010) show one reason: autism labels rose 349% while ID labels fell 20%. Fewer kids now carry the ID tag, yet those who do stay segregated.
Frisch et al. (2025) extend the stall. Even in "inclusive" rooms, students with ID get less hands-on time with learning tools like iPads.
Salmi et al. (2010) tell the opposite story for housing. From 1988-2008, large institutions dropped from 51% to 27% while small community homes grew. Schools stayed stuck while living placements moved forward.
Why it matters
You can’t fix what you don’t see. The plateau means current inclusion plans are not working. Push for daily, measurable inclusion goals. Track minutes inside general-ed, not just placement on paper. Ask who is touching the materials, not just who is in the room.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In 1975, federal law mandated that children with disabilities be educated in their least restrictive environment, or alongside peers without disabilities in general education classrooms to the maximum extent appropriate. More than 40 years later, I investigated how national trends in educational placement have changed over time for students with intellectual disability. Specifically, I examined the degree placements have trended toward less restrictive environments. I found historical trends of incremental progress toward less restrictive settings, but no evidence of such progress in recent years. Furthermore, most students were educated predominantly in segregated settings every year. I discuss how these findings relate to previous studies, as well as implications for individualized education program teams and advocates for educational inclusion.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2018 · doi:10.1352/1944-7558-123.4.305