Current Issues in Special Education

Access to a free, quality education is the key
to the uniquely American promise of equal
opportunity for all.

This promise was formally extended to children with disabilities with the passage in 1975 of landmark federal legislation now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This commitment to achievement in education was renewed with the enactment of No Child Left Behind law in 2001, and includes legislation, regulations and policy guidance for special education. Public schools across the country today serve more than 6.5 million students with a wide array of disabilities, including mental retardation, cerebral palsy, hearing loss, vision impairment and autism. Issues in serving this diverse population remain and include:

• Growth in special education enrollment: over the past ten years, the number of U.S. students enrolled in special education programs has risen 30 percent.
• Access, least restrictive environment, and inclusion: ongoing accountability is required to ensure both access and inclusion are understood and accepted as practice.
• Assessment: accurate assessments for students with disabilities continue to challenge teachers.
• Discipline: alternative placement options must be identified for students who also require disciplinary support for all to feel safe.
• Hiring of qualified special education teachers: a shortage of qualified teachers remains.
• Cultural, linguistic and multi-national differences: high rates of misidentification can further challenge the special education teacher in all areas of assessment and teaching practices.
• Achievement gap: the performance differential of students with disabilities closes more slowly than other student populations. Faced with dramatic national shortages, school districts around the nation are scrambling to fill 433,000 qualified special education positions supporting 6.5 million students with disabilities.