National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012 (NLTS 2012)

Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 12 claims (12 for) · 5 studies (5 associational), q1–q3 · 0 of 5 report an effect size · 12 claims rest on one study

Description

A U.S. Department of Education-sponsored national dataset and documentation describing the experiences and outcomes of youth with disabilities receiving IDEA services during transition to adulthood.

Components

• NLTS 2012 dataset and design documentation: The National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS) 2012 is a national dataset on youth with disabilities receiving services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. The accompanying design documentation "describes how the NLTS 2012 data were constructed and prepared for analyses," covering "the sample design, data collection instruments and procedures, data preparation, weights, and nonresponse bias analyses." It supports secondary analysis of the experiences and outcomes of students with disabilities in transition to adulthood. (John Burghardt et al. (2017))
• National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012 (NLTS 2012) surveys of secondary-school youth with disabilities and their parents: NLTS 2012 is a national study "conducted as part of an assessment of IDEA," whose surveys of secondary school youth with disabilities and their parents were collected in 2012 and compared with earlier waves back to 2003. The brief summarizes its findings on disadvantage, academic struggle, transition activities, and disability-group risk profiles. It ran under an associated project time frame of 2010-2018 for the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. (Stephen Lipscomb et al. (2018))

Claims

• Youth with an IEP are more likely than their peers to be socioeconomically disadvantaged and to face problems with health, communication, and completing typical tasks independently [+W]
• Youth with an IEP experience bullying and suspension at higher rates and are less engaged in school and social activities than peers, though most youth with and without an IEP feel positive about school [+W]
• Youth with an IEP are more likely than youth without an IEP to struggle academically, yet less likely to receive some forms of school-based support [+W]
• English learner students with disabilities are less likely than other students with disabilities to receive extra time on schoolwork but attend transition-planning meetings at a comparable rate, are suspended less, and have parents with higher expectations [+W]
• Youth with an IEP lag their peers in planning and taking steps to obtain postsecondary education and jobs [+W]
• English learner students with disabilities are more likely to struggle academically and less likely to participate in activities than both other students with disabilities and other English learners [+W]
• Participation in key transition activities, including discussing transition plans with school staff and student employment during high school, declined over the decade [+W]
• From 2003 to 2012, youth with disabilities showed greater school engagement and support use but became less likely to participate in some key transition activities [+M]
• Among 2012 disability groups, youth with intellectual disability, autism, deaf-blindness, multiple disabilities, and orthopedic impairments were most at-risk in preparation for life after high school [+M]
• In 2012, youth with disabilities were more likely than other students to struggle academically and less likely to take steps to obtain postsecondary education and jobs [+M]
• In 2012, youth with disabilities were more socioeconomically disadvantaged than their peers, more likely to live in low-income households and with parents receiving federal food benefits [+M]
• NLTS 2012 is the third in a series of federally sponsored studies of youth with disabilities under IDEA [+W]

Related Products and Programmes

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Key Sources

• John Burghardt, Joshua Haimson, Stephen Lipscomb, Albert Y. Liu, Frank Potter, Tiffany Waits, Sheng Wang. (2017). National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012: Design Documentation. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/national-longitudinal-transition-study-2012-design-documentation
• Stephen Lipscomb, Johanna Lacoe, Albert Y. Liu, Joshua Haimson. (2018). Preparing for Life After High School: The Characteristics and Experiences of Youth in Special Education. A Summary of Key Findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012. Washington, DC: Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	product
id	national-longitudinal-transition-study-2012-nlts-2012
title	National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012 (NLTS 2012)
description	A U.S.
status	review
moved_from	element/nlts-2012-dataset-design-documentation, element/nlts-2012-surveys-youth-disabilities-parents
product_kind	dataset
generated	by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	2 — john-burghardt-2017, stephen-lipscomb-2018

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