Six sets of emerging issues that could involve specific students and classroom situations are discussed here: class suspensions and due process, class rules and teacher inconsistency, classroom equality of opportunity, competency testing, classification of students, and classroom management in alternative schools. (Author)

This examination of the trends in education of the handicapped may seem to indicate that education of the handicapped is now ensured and certain to be appropriate. However, even Public Law 94-142 has inadequacies. It is likely that further legislation and litigation are on the horizon. (Author/IRT)

Education names and classifies individuals. This result seems unavoidable. For example, some students will graduate, and some will not. Those who graduate will be "graduates"; those who do not graduate will be labeled otherwise. The only way to avoid such labeling is to fail to make distinctions of any kind. Yet education is rife with…

Judicial pronouncements and legislative acts in recent years have established the responsibility of schools to provide educational services for each child, preferably in the educational mainstream. Mainstreaming represents an effort to provide equal opportunities for education to all children. A brief treatment of some of the foundational aspects…

In the postcolonial era, vocabulary must be developed that communicates a belief in equality through word choices that promote respect. Citizens of the global community have the right to name themselves, define their histories, and live according to their cultures. A chart of obsolete, inaccurate, or dehumanizing terms and preferred terminology is…

Controversy about which students should be selected for participation in programs for the gifted and talented has existed since the inception of special services for this segment of the school population. In most identification systems that follow the traditional screening-plus-selection approach, the "throw-aways" have invariably been those…

The essay addresses the continuing segregation of Hispanic students after 25 years of public school integration, noting the history and current status of Hispanic segregation with its bases in economic and residential factors and racial discrimination. The article also discusses the need for appropriate remedies for multiracial, multilingual…

Presented are the results of a study by the National Education Association of the experience of 43 schools in 3 selected districts (in Des Moines, Iowa; North Santa Barbara County, California; and Savannah, Georgia) in implementing Public Law 94-142 to provide a free, appropriate public education for the handicapped in the least restrictive…

This book draws on findings from a 2-year study that followed ten children with Down syndrome (ages 3-10) across 13 classrooms and accounts of high-school aged students with Down syndrome, in order to provide a detailed picture of schooling, Down syndrome, and disability. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the contrasting cultural images of…

By any measure--student achievement, social development, or democratic values--ability grouping and tracking practices are indefensible and unsupported by research. Tracking allows schools to practice in-school segregation and perpetuate unequal opportunities and unequal socialization within classrooms. Jonathan Kozol's investigation shows how…

The at-risk concept has become a deficit notion. Policymakers neglect those for whom at-risk programs are intended, ignoring accounts of institutional injustice previously accompanying the term. At-risk has become an administrative agenda that identifies failure before it occurs. Effective reform efforts require parents, teachers, and students who…

Describes the development of the self in gifted individuals based on observations in therapy and counseling settings. The concept of the self, problems of "differentness," and the gifted self are considered. Issues such as perfectionism, labeling, adult development, and excellence versus equity are discussed and illustrated with…

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…

This book explores the questions that arise as a result of the increasing awareness in U.S. society about equality issues. The book suggests that it is vitally important that children be alerted to the ways in which literature may convey prejudice. It is not possible, and it may not even be desirable, to insulate children from any possible…

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…