A Follow-Up Study of Former Special Education Students from a Rural and Urban County School System

This study examined the employment status of young adults with mental retardation, behavior disorders, or learning disabilities who had exited a rural (n = 25) or urban (n = 43) county school system within the past year. Additionally, the relationship between employment and demographic and secondary school variables were evaluated. The employment rate for students from the rural school system was 72%, while the employment rate for students from the urban school system was 81.4%. Subjects in rural settings were employed primarily in trade and industry (43.5%), whereas the subjects in the urban area were employed almost equally in service occupations (23.3%), and trade and industry (27.9%). The results of Chi-square analyses were significant for employment status and gender, employment status and disability, and employment status and paid employment during school.