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Article: The misdiagnosis of special education costs: district practices have no bearing, but medical and social factors accelerate spending.
- Article from:
- School Administrator
- Article date:
- March 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 American Association of School Administrators. 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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Local school districts nationwide are experiencing increases in special education costs. In states that are placing a high priority on education reform, the special education cost increases are rapidly compromising the ability of districts to effectively fund the implementation of these reforms. However, in searching for a way to address rising costs, policymakers often err in their diagnosis of the problem.
Policymakers point to two major causes of the increase in costs. First, they claim schools are funneling too many children into special education to ease the burden on the classroom teacher of addressing behavioral and learning problems. Second, they point to ...