School spirit is often associated with pride, participation, and a feeling of being part of a school community. The available National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS) 2012 Volume 3 figures offer a more personal view: whether youth with individualized education programs (IEPs) felt part of their school, believed a school adult cared about them, felt safe, and experienced theft at school. The reported measures compare 2003 and 2012, with most results broken out by disability category.
Table of contents
- What these school spirit statistics measure
- Belonging among youth with IEPs
- Belonging by disability category
- School adults and a sense of care
- Safety and school experiences
- Comparing belonging and care
What these school spirit statistics measure
The figures come from the NLTS 2012 Volume 3 source label and describe youth with IEPs. The overall comparison covers youth ages 15 to 18, while the disability-category figures are reported for youth in each named category. The two reference years are 2003 and 2012; they are not current-year estimates and should not be read as forecasts.
Two measures are especially relevant to school spirit. The first is the share who agreed a lot that they were part of their school. The second is the share who agreed that a school adult cared about them. Together, these measures separate institutional belonging from the experience of being supported by a particular adult.
The source also reports feeling safe and whether items were stolen from a locker, desk, or another place at school. Those measures do not capture every part of school climate, but they add context to the social experience reflected in school spirit statistics.
Belonging among youth with IEPs
Among youth ages 15 to 18 with an IEP, 52% in 2012 agreed a lot that they were part of their school. The corresponding share in 2003 was 31%. In this comparison, the reported belonging measure was higher in 2012 by 21 percentage points.
The same overall population also reported high levels of adult care. In 2012, 91% agreed that a school adult cared about them, compared with 86% in 2003. This is a five-point difference between the two survey years.
These measures point to two related but distinct aspects of school community. The share reporting that a school adult cared about them was higher than the share agreeing strongly that they were part of the school in both years. In 2003, the two reported figures were 86% and 31%; in 2012, they were 91% and 52%, respectively.
| Measure for youth ages 15–18 with an IEP | 2003 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|
| Agreed a lot that they were part of their school | 31% | 52% |
| Agreed that a school adult cared about them | 86% | 91% |
| Felt safe in school | 93% | 89% |
| Had items stolen at school | 26% | 21% |
Source: NLTS 2012 Volume 3. The table preserves the reported survey years and wording of the measures; it does not establish causes for differences between years.
Belonging by disability category
The disability-category figures show a wide range in the share who agreed a lot that they were part of their school. In 2012, the reported shares ranged from 41% among youth with emotional disturbance to 71% among youth with orthopedic impairment. Other 2012 figures included 53% for autism, 65% for deaf-blindness, 51% for hearing impairment, 58% for intellectual disability, 68% for multiple disabilities, 57% for other health impairment, 51% for specific learning disability, 53% for speech or language impairment, 56% for traumatic brain injury, and 64% for visual impairment.
In 2003, the corresponding category figures ranged from 22% among youth with traumatic brain injury to 47% among youth with orthopedic impairment. The reported shares were 25% for autism, 45% for deaf-blindness, 32% for emotional disturbance, 38% for hearing impairment, 39% for intellectual disability, 41% for multiple disabilities, 31% for other health impairment, 29% for specific learning disability, 24% for speech or language impairment, and 44% for visual impairment.
| Disability category | 2003: part of school | 2012: part of school |
|---|---|---|
| Autism | 25% | 53% |
| Deaf-blindness | 45% | 65% |
| Emotional disturbance | 32% | 41% |
| Hearing impairment | 38% | 51% |
| Intellectual disability | 39% | 58% |
| Multiple disabilities | 41% | 68% |
| Orthopedic impairment | 47% | 71% |
| Other health impairment | 31% | 57% |
| Specific learning disability | 29% | 51% |
| Speech or language impairment | 24% | 53% |
| Traumatic brain injury | 22% | 56% |
| Visual impairment | 44% | 64% |
Source: NLTS 2012 Volume 3. These are reported percentages for the named categories and years, not a ranking of students or schools.
School adults and a sense of care
The reported adult-care measure was high across every disability category in both years, although the values varied. In 2012, 97% of youth with autism, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairment agreed that a school adult cared about them. The 2012 figures were 85% for deaf-blindness, 92% for emotional disturbance, 93% for hearing impairment, 88% for intellectual disability, 93% for multiple disabilities, 95% for orthopedic impairment, 92% for other health impairment, 89% for specific learning disability, and 91% for speech or language impairment.
The 2003 adult-care figures were 94% for autism, 97% for deaf-blindness, 83% for emotional disturbance, 86% for hearing impairment, 83% for intellectual disability, 76% for multiple disabilities, 87% for orthopedic impairment, 89% for other health impairment, 87% for specific learning disability, 77% for speech or language impairment, 86% for traumatic brain injury, and 89% for visual impairment.
| Disability category | 2003: school adult cared | 2012: school adult cared |
|---|---|---|
| Autism | 94% | 97% |
| Deaf-blindness | 97% | 85% |
| Emotional disturbance | 83% | 92% |
| Hearing impairment | 86% | 93% |
| Intellectual disability | 83% | 88% |
| Multiple disabilities | 76% | 93% |
| Orthopedic impairment | 87% | 95% |
| Other health impairment | 89% | 92% |
| Specific learning disability | 87% | 89% |
| Speech or language impairment | 77% | 91% |
| Traumatic brain injury | 86% | 97% |
| Visual impairment | 89% | 97% |
Source: NLTS 2012 Volume 3. The source label reports these percentages; the available figures do not identify which adults students had in mind or explain year-to-year changes.
Safety and school experiences
For youth ages 15 to 18 with an IEP, 89% felt safe in school in 2012. In 2003, 93% felt safe. The reported safety share was therefore lower in 2012 than in 2003, even as the reported share who agreed a lot that they were part of their school was higher.
The source also reports theft-related experiences. In 2012, 21% of youth ages 15 to 18 with an IEP had items stolen from a locker, desk, or other place at school. In 2003, the corresponding figure was 26%.
These measures describe different experiences. Feeling safe is a broad self-report, while the theft measure refers to a specific event involving belongings. Neither measure alone can represent the complete school climate or explain students’ feelings of belonging.
The combination of the four overall figures is useful for reading school spirit statistics with more precision. In 2012, the reported shares were 52% for agreeing a lot that they were part of the school, 91% for believing a school adult cared, 89% for feeling safe, and 21% for having items stolen. In 2003, the shares were 31%, 86%, 93%, and 26%, respectively.
Comparing belonging and care
Across the disability categories, the belonging measure was lower than the adult-care measure in every listed year-category pairing. For example, among youth with orthopedic impairment, 71% agreed a lot that they were part of their school in 2012, while 95% agreed that a school adult cared about them. Among youth with emotional disturbance, the corresponding 2012 figures were 41% and 92%.
The same pattern appears in the 2003 figures. Youth with visual impairment recorded 44% for agreeing a lot that they were part of their school and 89% for agreeing that a school adult cared about them. Youth with speech or language impairment recorded 24% and 77%, respectively.
The reported belonging percentages in 2012 were higher than the 2003 percentages for every listed disability category. The adult-care percentages increased for emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, speech or language impairment, and traumatic brain injury. They also increased for other health impairment, specific learning disability, and autism. The figures for deaf-blindness, intellectual disability, and visual impairment were lower in 2012 than in 2003.
Because the source provides survey-year percentages rather than explanations, these comparisons should be read descriptively. They show how the reported answers differed across the two NLTS reference years and disability categories; they do not establish why the answers differed or whether the changes apply to all students today.