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Article: Reshaping special education. (preventing learning disabilities to curtail special education costs)
- Article from:
- Phi Delta Kappan
- Article date:
- September 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Facing ever more special education students, state policy makers are beginning to wonder whether the growth is driven by genuine need or by funding formulas that reward schools for every student thus labeled. There is probably no clear answer, unless one understands how and why the education system isn't serving or can't serve certain groups of students. Special education fills an obvious need for some students and may be a survival tool for some regular classroom teachers. But once the constituencies that use the funding formulas have all stepped to the plate to lobby for changes, the outcome is usually an expansion of the program, not cost containment. Policy makers who ...