Can Regular and Special Education Be Integrated into One System? Political Culture Theory May Have the Answer.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper examines proposals to integrate regular and special education. It offers an overview of pertinent regular and special education-reform efforts, discusses recommendations for unified schools that include all students, and reviews literature on political culture theory. Elazar's (1966) theory of political culture is used as a framework for analyzing the potential micro- and macro-political effects of creating a unified education system. A conclusion is that throughout the 1980s, the reform of regular education centered on quality and excellence, whereas special-education reform advocated equity through efficient order. The unanswered question of the 1990s appears to be "Are both excellence and equity possible in the schools?" This poses dilemmas of control versus democracy and equity versus excellence. Recommendations for creating a unified school system include promoting dialogue among all stakeholders, understanding political cultures, and carefully examining the underlying values of the current educational system. (LMI)