Issues Facing Special Educators in the New Millennium

Abstract

The field of Special Education is relatively young and has experienced many changes during the second half of the 20th century. In addition, social, political, legal, and scientific forces have created controversy and fragmentation among professionals and parents of students with disabilities. The consistent controlling force has been and, will likely continue, to be the mandates and funding of the federal government. Social movements have impacted political and legal institutions independent of scientific research. This influence has caused changes within the field. Federal research priorities have been modified to correspond with the goals of these movements. Researchers followed this lead in order to receive funding. Practitioners have based their efforts either directly upon the tenets of the social movements or on the resulting research. What has resulted is a system of beliefs and practices. This paper describes historical and contemporary issues in the field of Special Education and offers predictions about the course of events in the coming decade. A consistent trend in special education and in social services, in general, is a growing life-span perspective. This trend defines several areas of increasing professional focus, early intervention and planning for transition to adulthood. The ongoing debates regarding funding of programs, discipline, and inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings are more controversial. Other topics that will be discussed are teacher training and personnel shortages, parental and student rights, and the research to practice gap in instructional technology. The Trend Towards Inclusion It is antithetical to the primary tenet of special education practice, individualized educational programming, to argue for full inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings. To contend that all students with disabilities should receive anything, other than an appropriate education, violates the letter and intent of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1997). Like many trends in education, inclusion is driven by parents, advocacy organizations, and professionals with an admirable focus on advocacy for the rights of children. Many special education professionals resisted the voyage into what were the uncharted ill-defined waters of inclusion. Proponents were clear about where instruction should occur but an empirical research base for what to attain and how to attain it was absent. Many proponents foresaw improved social skills in addition to the civil rights goals of the movement, but the social goals were never clearly operationalized to allow for meaningful evaluation. Intuitively, educational settings that mirror community, residential, and vocational settings have the highest likelihood of success. However, these outcomes have not received adequate attention in the research literature. Currently, Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) are required to document Transition Plans for secondary students with disabilities that establish post secondary goals. Educators have yet to reconcile program needs with placement options. It is likely that the coming decade will see the parallel purposes of IEPs, Transition Plans, and the determination of least restrictive environment becoming better integrated. The most striking feature of the inclusion movement has been that general educators are not included in decisionmaking with regard to inclusive practices at the same time that special education professionals tout consultation, collaboration, and parity. Students with disabilities had not succeeded in general education settings in the past and evidence that anything had changed was lacking. The unilateral nature of the inclusion movement tended to alienate many general educators who resented the adversarial tone of forced compliance. Still many general and special educators are willing to test inclusion given adequate administrative support and opportunities to work together (Villa, Thousand, Meyers, & Nevin, 1996). …