Citywide Public School Fact Sheet, SY2016-17
5
School-Age Children: Demographics of All Public Students, connued
Out of all public school students, 14% have specialized
educaon needs (Figure 6). Special educaon is
educaon designed to meet the needs of students with
disabilies. Governed by the federal Individuals with
Disabilies Educaon Act (IDEA), special educaon
programs typically provide students up to age 22 with
addional supports and accommodaons that allow
them to access a specic curriculum. Public school
students in Wards 7 and 8 had slightly higher special
educaon needs at 16% and 17%, respecvely,
compared to public school students living in other
wards in the city.
English Learners (EL) are students who need addional
academic support in order to fully parcipate in a
general educaon program. Schools typically idenfy
these students and adjust their instrucon and monitor
the students. An EL student is someone, ages 3 through
21, who is not yet uent in English, and who
understands or speaks another language or has a family
background where a language other than English is
spoken in the home. Figure 7 shows that 10% of the
public school student populaon were EL; Wards 1, 2,
and 4 had the highest shares of EL students at 29%,
25%, and 26%, respecvely.
Figure 8: Share of All Public School Students with At Risk of
Academic Failure Status, by Ward of Residence, SY16-17
Figure 7: Share of All Public School Students with English Learner
Status, by Ward of Residence, SY16-17
Figure 6: Share of All Public School Students with Special Educaon
Needs, by Ward of Residence, SY16-17
At risk of academic failure is a local District denion that
idenes vulnerable students, such as students who are
homeless, in foster care, qualify for federal food stamps
and welfare, or are overage for high school (dened as one
year older, or more, than the expected age for the grade).
This idencaon is used to ensure that schools receive
addional local funds to serve these students. Students in
adult and alternave schools are not categorized as at-risk
and are not included in this metric. Citywide, 47% of all
public school students were idened as at risk, with the
highest percentage of students living in Wards 7 and 8 at
56% and 66%, respecvely.
47%
41%
25%
4%
33%
44%
38%
56%
66%
14%
13%
9%
7%
12%
14%
13%
16%
17%