EDUCATION IS SPECIAL FOR EVERYONE: How Schools can Best Serve all Students - Hardcover

Since the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975, public schools are required to provide a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment for children with disabilities. Education is Special for Everyone questions the consequences of inclusion for students learning at average and above average levels. . . .This book takes a hard look at the impact of current practices regarding special education programs in public schools across the country. The authors are highly critical of increased demands on public schools as funds become more difficult to secure. They urge the educational community to consider the impact of special education programming on the total school environment before it is too late. * School Administrator * A useful, interesting addition to efforts to provide equal opportunity for all students with special needs, particularly gifted students. The authors contend that we do little to meet the educational needs of higher achieving students, since they pass the tests anyway, and as a consequence may fall further behind in international educational performance and economic productivity. -- Lance D. Fusarelli, Ph.D., professor, North Carolina State University This book by Mulvey and Cooper is a much needed call to action for those interested in genuine educational reform. It challenges us as parents, students and citizens to reflect on the empty promises of the past decade with endless testing protocols, mind numbing curriculums and prescriptive teaching. The book prods all concerned to seek a future direction for education based on schools that are learning organizations with engaged students and teachers as facilitators of understanding. It is a rallying call to concerned individuals around the country to reassert the American tradition of local control and the restoration of the school as the center of local communities. For educational professionals and public policy leaders it is a thought provoking, welcome conversation about finding solutions for the future viability of our public schools. -- Arthur T. Maloney, coordinator of the educational leadership program, Pace University, School of Education

This book researches and reports on issues of current practice: e.g., teacher preparation, placement of students with special needs, implications for the average and above in the classroom and the financial costs driving placement decisions in the education system. We examine the lowering of standards so all can pass tests, report on loss of engagement of students by middle school, and mourn the squandering of creativity to appease a mandate.