Today an ever-increasing number of infants and young children with and without disabilities play, develop, and learn together in a variety of places--homes, early childhood programs, neighborhoods, and other community-based settings. The notion that young children with disabilities and their families are full members of the community reflects…

Ensuring appropriate educational opportunities for students with disabilities is one of the greatest challenges that public schools face. Research suggests that few school leaders are prepared to provide effective special education leadership (Monteith, 2000; Walther-Thomas, DiPaola, & Butler, 2002). If school reform goals are to be realized,…

Describes 20/20 analysis procedures (which uses the 20th and 80th percentiles to identify students at the margins who need adapted instruction). Also examines cross-categorical programming, costs, needs for efficiency, accountability, and labeling. A methodology using computerized, multiyear 20/20 analyses to estimate school effectiveness…

A policy study (1992-94) investigated how three exemplary states have implemented transition services for youth with disabilities. Document evaluation and interviews (N=74) with key policymakers and implementors resulted in identifying seven themes that contributed to the successful initiation and continuation of transition policies, practices,…

This article explores the current status in the United States of support to families who care for children with disabilities at home. It summarizes essential program features, program effects, and outstanding issues (such as, ensuring family involvement in policy formation, sufficient funding, and system collaboration). (DB)

An introduction to a special focus issue on the relationship between general educational reform and special education, the article summarizes four national reports on excellence in education. Sections that address special education are identified, as well as related issues such as teacher preparation, grouping practices, and the use of…

The article examines the omission of special education as a focus of concern in recent national reports and analyses concerned with excellence in education, including negative implications for low-achieving students and those currently receiving special services. The effect of current political and economic variables on educational trends is…

The article describes the current public policy environment and its impact on efforts to refine the system for identifying and serving mildly handicapped students. Areas requiring attention are cited for discussion, including revisions in the service delivery system, personnel preparation, administration of programs and funding structures, and…

Described are efforts to integrate special and regular elementary-level students from two separate but adjacent facilities. Three years after the special school's opening, observational data and questionnaires revealed almost total segregation. Subsequently, an intensive intervention program generated promising, short-term movement toward…

The authors warn against placing too heavy a burden of responsibility on building-level administrators for service delivery approaches tailored to the individual needs of all students. Given the goal of meeting individual needs through combining regular and special education resources, there is no reason for maintaining a dual system. (JW)

The statewide (Oregon) survey of special education administrators, high school special education teachers, and parents of mildly disabled high school students investigated four areas of special education services: focus/content, discrepancies between availability and utilization, barriers to mainstreaming, and conditions required for improvement.…

The article examines service provisions for preschool-aged handicapped students in terms of two legal issues: what constitutes an appropriate program in terms of the intensity/frequency of program length; and how the least restrictive environment provision should be applied to this population. (Author/DB)

The article describes the conflict between parents and state governments regarding the relative liability in financial responsibility for residential placement of handicapped, particularly developmentally disabled, children and comments on implications of the "Parks v. Pavkovic" decision in Illinois which held the state financially responsible.…

The economic, educational, and community adjustment difficulties of youth with handicaps are reviewed in the context of historical antecedents and of the U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services' transition initiative. The conceptual and organizational frameworks for the University of Illinois' federally sponsored Transition…

The article describes the Utah Community-Based Transition Project, a federally funded project on transition planning for severely disabled youth. The planning process is aimed at facilitating coordination and expansion of community services for each graduate. Barriers facing states as they attempt to implement effective transition planning models…