The Allure of Legalization Reconsidered: The Case of Special Education

Is Justice Served by Due Process?: Affecting the Outcome of Special Education Hearings in Pennsylvania

“…Yet, an even more pressing question arises if Neal and Kirp are correct in suggesting that the hearings have been used largely by middle class people. 65 Then the issue becomes one of equal access, and the question whether the hearings are effective vehicles for allowing parents to influence educational decisions must be understood within the context of the question of "which parents?" Again, the present study looks only at hearings involving children thought to be retarded by one party to the dispute.…”

Individualized Education Program: Considering the Broad Context of Reform

“…The focus on compliance rather than the educational significance of the IEP is what Clune and Van Pelt (1985) called "goal displacement " (p. 29) or what Neal and Kirp (1985) called the "the arid formality of legalism" (p. 82). Basically, it is easier for a bureaucracy such as a school district to initiate strenuous compliance procedures than to implement quality control initiatives (cf.…”

Out of the classroom, into the courts: The legalization of Australian education and its implications for educational research

“…The laws are not contracts, but, like the Individual Education Programs that have to be worked out for each American handicapped child, the plans have been legislated for and are in a sense "quasi-contractual, a logical extension" of the fact that women, Aborigines, people of non-English speaking background or with a physical disability have been accorded rights (Neal and Kirp, 1986) The elaboration of procedural protections What then of that second element in the legalization process? What evidence is there at Federal and State levels of increasing procedural protections -the right to the review of official decisions?…”