Meeting Educational Needs of Handicapped Students: Special Education Interfacing with General Education.

Overview & Synopsis

The paper traces the establishment and outcomes of a special education program development unit as part of the West Virginia Department of Education. It is explained that the office used a process/product planning approach with information on mission, role/function, allocation of function and resources, and multiple matrix analysis planning. Based on a successful approach to general education program development, the special education program development process was guided by two underlying beliefs: learner-based decision making and research-based decision making. In order to assure a high quality research data base, a modified Delphi technique was used. A delivery system was designed which uses curriculum-based assessments to select general education and additional learning outcomes for individualized education programs (IEPs) and which determines the least restrictive environment and graduation requirements for handicapped students. Prototypes were developed for retrieving appropriate objectives and mastery information for IEPs and for determining the most appropriate learning outcomes for students eligible for special education. Guidelines were set for reviewing and selecting special education materials. Appendixes include information on the process for interfacing existing special education objective documents with state approved learning outcomes and selecting learning outcomes for the IEP. (CL)