The Nation - News from Jan. 11, 1988

Special education in the nation’s schools is segregated and second-class, with slow learners who have the ability to overcome problems exiled into inferior programs because of emphasis on test scores and other pressures, two researchers said. Their report in Harvard Educational Review urges Congress and educators to rethink policies that separate handicapped children from their peers and instead develop innovative programs to teach students with varied learning abilities in integrated settings. Researchers argue that federal money, which has increased from $100 million in 1976 to $1.64 billion in 1985, has largely been wasted because of arbitrary and discriminatory placement policies, acceptance of lower standards in special education curricula and a lack of programs to reinstate the learning disabled to the general student population after their weaknesses are addressed.