Effective School Responses to Student Diversity: Challenges and Prospects.

Overview & Synopsis

Some of the major barriers to progress in special education reform are highlighted, and critical issues for improving the prospects of achieving equity in schooling success for all of the children in U.S. schools are discussed. Vignettes illustrate what new programs and policies for helping students might actually mean for the students and their families. One of the most significant problems in special education is the way in which students are classified and placed in special education programs, with the related problems of labeling and stereotyping. Once placement has been made, students often suffer from inescapable isolation. Achieving success in special education reform requires progress on policy, administration, and programing. A first step should be eliminating the inherent disincentives in current funding. On an administrative level, it is crucial to empower building-level administrators and staff to assemble resources they need. From a programmatic point of view, special education must be understood in terms of the whole education enterprise. The vignettes suggested for the year 2000 represent better acknowledgment of and response to student diversity and better coordination among providers of education and services. (SLD)