This commentary discusses whether the American Association on Mental Retardation should change its name. It reviews some of the assumptions, assertions, and dynamics that occur in the current language wars and presents principles for the selection and use of language. The need to use clearly understood terms is stressed. (Contains one reference.)…

Two types of teacher behavior were elicited from student responses to the Pupil Control Behavior Form (PCB). Two custodial teacher types emerged from the data: the "screamer" type, described as a teacher who controlled pupil behavior with verbal methods that expressed anger or frustration; and the "cold fish" type, depicted as a teacher who…

Discussed is the impact of poverty, public education, and self-concept on the classification of persons as mentally retarded. Research relating to the effects of poverty on academic performance is reviewed, and intervention strategies such as improved housing and provision of a guaranteed minimum wage are suggested. Community control and…

This paper reports the results of a study that investigated the reading differences between students who were low achieving, both with and without the label of learning disabilities (LD). Seventy-nine studies were chosen to calculate reading performance differences between low achievers with and without the LD label. The substantive and…

The first part of this article critiques categorical approaches to special education, overrepresentation of minority children in special education, inclusion and exclusion, and white privilege. The second part of the article describes the potential of multicultural education, transformation, and participatory leadership approaches to address the…

This paper reviews the literature on positive and negative aspects of diagnostic classification of children, or labeling. It reviews the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which mandated that special education must be available to all children with disabilities. Definitional issues in diagnostic labeling of students with learning…

Characteristics, across categories, of 198 students previously identified as educable mentally retarded, learning disabled, and emotionally disturbed were analyzed in order to validate their relevance in distinguishing among the three groups of children. (Author)

This commentary discusses whether the American Association on Mental Retardation should change its name. It argues that changing the name would not change the stigma, and would harm advocacy efforts by allowing legislators to use a terminology change to narrow eligibility for supports. (Contains one reference.) (CR)

Educators find themselves in the position of being ordered to classify pupils for remedial and compensatory programs at the same time that some of their classifying practices are being challenged both in educational research and in court. School classifications are largely the function of testing. The task for educators is to understand the state…

Recent legal decisions, coupled with Federal and State statutes, require the New York City Board of Education to follow definite guidelines in providing equal educational opportunities for its handicapped children. Among the problems raised are those of classification and labeling, criticized by some as a procedure that focuses more on pathology…

Reviews research on the relationship of cultural background to academic achievement. Concludes that the most successful approaches to minority education recognize and use cultural background in the activity settings in which the learning process takes place. (FMW)

Will greater school choice result in more responsive, higher quality schools and happier parents? Or will proliferating options further sort students and families by race, social class, and special interest? Increasingly, education is viewed as a private good. If parents become autonomous, self-interested consumers, erosion of common purposes and…

A review of the literature on biological and environmental effects of cocaine use suggests that the classification of infants and young children as prenatally cocaine exposed is neither descriptive nor predictive of behavior. The classification of behavior rather than labeling of the child is encouraged, as are partnerships with families of…

This essay examines the ways in which the rhetoric of the reparations debate elucidates the varying accounts of history favored by Americans of different backgrounds, the political and ideological foundations underlying different perspectives on the nature and uses of history, and the norms guiding public deliberation in the contemporary U.S.…

Presented are reprints of 37 articles on mainstreaming handicapped children (published between 1968 and 1974 in "Exceptional Children"). The collected articles are arranged within four broad categories: the general rationale for mainstreaming, other philosophical considerations, types of mainstreaming models, and teacher training and…