Special Education through the Lens of the Regular Education Initiative

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-68
Author(s):  
Shirley McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Regular Education ◽  
Regular Education Initiative ◽  
Education Initiative

Special Education and the Regular Education Initiative: Basic Assumptions

1990 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 479-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Jenkins ◽  
Constance G. Pious ◽  
Mark Jewell
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Regular Education ◽  
Regular Education Initiative ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Education Initiative

The Regular Education Initiative Debate: Its Promises and Problems

1989 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 440-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
William E. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Regular Education ◽  
Controversial Issue ◽  
Professional Literature ◽  
Regular Education Initiative ◽  
Education Professional ◽  
Unitary System ◽  
Education Initiative

The most intense and controversial issue presently receiving attention in the special education professional literature is the Regular Education Initiative (REI) debate. The proposed merger of special and regular education into a unitary system has attracted both strong advocates and critics. This article examines the current parameters of this discourse, identifies specific problems and issues related to this debate, and suggests strategies for overcoming perceived obstacles and improving the overall dialogue. Particular attention is given to key groups, for example, local educators and students themselves, who have been largely excluded from the REI debate. Most of the suggested benefits of the REI movement will never accrue unless its present discourse is expanded to include these groups.

The Regular Education Initiative: Patent Medicine for Behavioral Disorders

1988 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheldon Braaten ◽  
James M. Kauffman ◽  
Barbara Braaten ◽  
Lewis Polsgrove ◽  
C. Michael Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Regular Education ◽  
Right To Privacy ◽  
Regular Education Initiative ◽  
Appropriate Education ◽  
Education Initiative ◽  
Patent Medicine

Implications of the regular education initiative (REI) for students with behavioral disorders (BD) are examined in the context of integration and right to treatment. Arguments that BD students are being overidentified for special education are refuted. Labels for BD students are seen as important indicants of the seriousness with which professionals take their problems, not as the source of students' spoiled identities. Eligibility for services that encompass appropriate education, right to privacy, and implementation of appropriate interventions are viewed as particularly problematic issues related to realization of laudable goals of the REI.

Survey of the States: Special Education Knowledge Requirements for School Administrators

1992 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 399-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Valesky ◽  
Marilyn A. Hirth
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Regular Education ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
Special Education Law ◽  
Directors Of Special Education ◽  
Regular Education Initiative ◽  
State Directors ◽  
Knowledge Requirements ◽  
Education Administrators ◽  
Education Initiative

Regular education administrators must possess a knowledge of special education to effectively implement P. L. 94-142, and to experiment with and accomplish many of the proposed objectives of the regular education initiative. To determine the existing knowledge base of school administrators in special education and special education law, we surveyed state directors of special education. This article reports the results of the survey, discusses implications, and offers suggestions for improvement.

Attitudes of Principals and Special Education Teachers Toward the Inclusion of Students with Mild Disabilities

1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 199-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan G. Cook ◽  
Melvyn I. Semmel ◽  
Michael M. Gerber
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Academic Outcomes ◽  
Regular Education ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
Educational Opportunities ◽  
Mild Disabilities ◽  
Regular Education Initiative ◽  
Teacher Survey ◽  
Education Initiative

Attitudes of 49 principals and 64 special education teachers regarding the inclusion of students with mild disabilities were investigated. Results of a discriminant analysis indicated that principals and special educators were separated into groups with 76% accuracy according to their responses to items drawn from the Regular Education Initiative Teacher Survey (Semmel, Abernathy, Butera, & Lesar, 1991). items measuring attitudes toward the efficacy of included placements with consultative services, the academic outcomes associated with included placements, and the protection of resources devoted to students with mild disabilities correlated most highly with the discriminant function. Findings are discussed in relation to their implications for the implementation of inclusion reforms and the educational opportunities of students with mild disabilities.

The Special Education Paradox: Equity as the Way to Excellence

1991 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Skrtic
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Regular Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Professional Culture ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Institutional Practice ◽  
Regular Education Initiative ◽  
Immanent Critique

In this article, Thomas M. Skrtic analyzes and critiques the special education system in the United States, focusing on its policies, practices, and grounding assumptions. He provides an expansive and in-depth literature review, applying a form of criticism he calls "immanent critique" to three areas: 1) special education as a professional practice, 2) special education as an institutional practice, and 3) public education as a social practice of society. In critiquing these areas, he compares the debate over the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 with the current debate over the Regular Education Initiative and reflects on the positions of the leading scholars who advocate reform within special and regular education. After deconstructing the discourses in these areas, Skrtic argues that the current bureaucratic school organizational structure and specialized professional culture are inappropriate forms to fulfill our social goals of educational excellence and equity. In their place, Skrtic proposes an alternative school organizational structure and professional culture,which he terms "adhocracy." He argues that this form, which stresses collaboration and active problem solving, would provide all students with schooling that is both excellent and equitable, and thus prepare today's youth for the challenges and requirements of the post-industrial era of the coming twenty-first century.

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