| Special Education and Society | |
| Is Special Education an Illegitimate Profession? | |
| Yes: from ldquo;On What Basis Hope? | |
| Modern Progress and Postmodern Possibilities,rdquo; Mental Retardation (April 1997) | |
| No: from ldquo;Commentary: Today’s Special Education and Its Messages for Tomorrow,rdquo; The Journal of Special Education (vol. 32, no. 4, 1999) | |
| a member of the School of Education of the University of Missouri–St. Louis, argues that America’s trust in science has led to the creation of an array of artificial terms, such as mental retardation, that devalue individuals, have no basis in reality, and blunt the voices of those to whom they are applied | |
| a professor of education at the University of Virginia, cautions readers not to be overly distracted by criticism and asserts that special education is a relavtively young profession that uses accepted research practices and self-reflection to generate reliable common knowledge of effective instructional strategies for students with disabilities who were previously excluded from schools | |
| Is Eliminating Overrepresentation Beyond the Scope of Public Schools? | |
| Yes: from The Committee on Minority Representation in Special Education, Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education (National Academy Press, 2002) | |
| No: from Racial Inequality in Special Education (Harvard Education Press, 2002) | |
| researchers representing the findings of a National Research Council study on minority students in special and gifted education, believe overrepresentation issues are complex and not easily resolvable | |
| While teachers can make a difference, environmental factors and poverty have a large impact and require interventions beyond schools | |
| both policy experts, present the results of research commissioned by the Civil Rights Project of Harvard University | |
| While agreeing with some of the NRC recommendations, these findings suggest that patterns will change with stricter enforcement of federal and state regulations | |
| Do Funding Formulas Make Special Education Too Expensive? | |
| Yes: from ldquo;The Interaction of Shifting Special Education Policies with State Funding Practices,rdquo; Journal of Educational Finance (Summer 1997) | |
| No: from ldquo;The Rising Costs of Special Education in Massachusetts: Causes and Effects,rdquo; Rethinking Special Education for a New Century (Thomas B. Fordham Foundation & Progressive Policy Institute, 2001) | |
| an associate professor at the University of Las Vegas-Nevada | |
| president of Syndactics, Inc | |
| a professor emeritus at Arizona State University, contend that the number of students identified as disabled is increasing at an excessive rate because of funding systems that encourage overidentification and discourage flexible, creative, inclusive school programming | |
| a school superintendent, and his colleagues maintain that districts have been careful and conservative in identifying children with disabilities but that enrollment and costs are increasing primarily because of the increased numbers of children with more significant disabilities | |
| Does School Choice Open Doors for Students with Disabilities? | |
| Yes: from ldquo;More Choices for Disabled Kids,rdquo; Policy Review (2002) | |
| No: from ldquo;Vouchers: Special Students Need Not Apply,rdquo; Rethinking Schools Online (Winter 2003) | |
| executive director for the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, reviewing the ex | |
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