The essays in this volume seek to elucidate the policies and processes whereby groups of students in 15 (mainly industrialized) countries are designated as special, and differential treatment is legitimated, organized, and financed. Essays and authors are as follows: "An Overview of Experience in Fifteen Countries" (W. Donovan, A. Fordham, and G. Hancock); "Recognizing Students in Need of Extra Resources: The Swedish Experience" (Esse Lovgren); "Screening Categories Relevant to Special Education" (Pierre Dague); "Rationales for Providing Additional Resources" (Erik Jorgen Hansen); "Unequal Resource Distribution" (Jean Blackburn); "Educational Autonomy for Special Populations: Canadian Experience" (Edward N. McKeown); "A Researcher's Assessment of the Autonomy Problem" (Kjell Eide); "Service Delivery: An Analysis of Systems of Administration" (Jane Hannaway); "The Delivery of Special Education Services for Minorities" (K. McDonagh); "Costing for Special Populations" (Maurice Peston); "How the Cost of the Provision May Be Determined" (R. A. Rossmiller); "Problems and Policy Instruments in the Provision of Special Education" (Stacy Churchill); "Language and Literacy: Programmes for Linguistic Minorities in Five Countries (Ray C. Rist); "Indigenous Cultural Minorities--Concepts Pertaining to Their Education" (Frank Darnell); "Reactions to These Concepts from Aboriginal Australia" (Colin J. Bourke); "The Situation of the Sami People in Norway" (Anton Hoem); "An American Indian View of Education for Indigenous Minorities" (William G. Demmert); "A Response for the Maori Population of New Zealand" (Allan F. Smith). (RDN)