As an introduction to this BookBuilder book, the opening sections leading up to our featured section have been summarized.
Summary of opening sections
In the opening sections of “The Special Education Paradox,” Thomas Skrtic asserts that the federal system of special education established under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ) has largely failed to achieve its goal of providing an appropriate public education to students with disabilities. The article seeks to analyze this failure in terms of organizational theory . In order to give his theoretical argument a more practical context, he analyzes special education in the context of a movement known as the Regular Education Initiative (REI) . REI was a movement during the 1980’s to try and correct the limitations of IDEA by eliminating the separate special education programs found within most public schools creating one system of general education in which students with disabilities were to be supported within general education classrooms. Some proponents of REI envisioned a system in which the education of all students regardless of ability would receive an education tailored to their individual needs.
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