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In this topical issue of The Journal of Special Education, leading scholars in special education reviewed the literature and investigated whether special education is, indeed, special by examining to what degree (a) effective techniques have been developed for students with disabilities, (b) these effective techniques are applied and implemented with fidelity, and (c) utilization of these techniques is unique to special education. In this article, the authors analyze findings from this special issue regarding what is special-effective, implemented, and unique-about special education. The authors found that effective, empirically supported practices have been developed for students with disabilities, that these techniques are used predominantly in special education, and that these effective practices are not implemented regularly or with fidelity. Recommendations to enhance the implementation of effective, research-based practices are offered.
What is special about special education? This question, in one form or another, has been associated with efforts to educate children and youth with disabilities since soon after the inception of special education classes in U.S. public schools. To address the atypical needs and often unresponsive nature of the students that it serves, special education has traditionally involved providing something "extra" and "different." For example, higher levels of resources have been allocated for students in special education, teaching techniques not often used with nondisabled students have been developed and used, labels have been applied to designate students served, and students have often been placed in separate environments with specially trained teachers. In an effort to justify the specialized, and often expensive and potentially stigmatizing, treatment of students with disabilities, special educators have long sought to address the question of whether their field is truly special and, if so, to specify what those unique and effective characteristics and practices are (e.g., D. Fuchs & Fuchs, 1995; Hockenbury, Kauffman, & Hallahan, 1999-2000; Kirk, 1953; Lord, 1952; Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1997).
As discussions about the most recent reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and related dialogue about the future of serving students with disabilities have begun anew, the legitimacy of special education has been pointedly and repeatedly questioned. For example, in a recent editorial, Bolick (2001) claimed, "A powerful toxin infects our nation's education system, imperiling the ability of every public school to fulfill its...