The purpose of this study was to investigate the enrollment of students with and without disabilities in grades 9 through 12 in Illinois in (a) vocational education courses and (b) nontraditional vocational education programs. We sought to confirm prior research on the enrollment patterns of females with disabilities in vocational education (VocEd) and to extend it by examining their participation as nontraditional (NT) enrollees. Findings indicated that females with disabilities represented the smallest proportion of students enrolled in VocEd (2.9%), yet this proportion was slightly larger than their proportion of the general student population in grades 9-12. We also found that over 97% of females with disabilities enrolled in some type of vocational education course. Further, females with disabilities participated as NT enrollees at a slightly higher rate than females without disabilities, but at a lower rate than males with and without disabilities. Three percent or less of each student cohort were identified as NT enrollees. Across the four student groups, females with disabilities comprised the smallest proportion of NT enrollees. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.
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