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The book identifies and analyzes important yet insufficiently explored moral issues in k-12 special education. It aims to achieve a successful combination of experience and theory. The experience comes from the many years the author was an Illinois special education due process hearing officer (1987-2007). The theory comes from the even more years he taught and did scholarly work in the areas of moral, political, legal, and educational philosophy as a philosophy professor (1969-2012).
Each of the moral issues considered in the book figured importantly in one or more of the most significant disputes the author was called upon to adjudicate. Throughout the book he draws upon important concepts in moral, political, legal, and educational philosophy as conceptual resources. He considers these concepts invaluable for analyzing moral issues, especially when a person experiences discomfort caused by a sense that an issue is morally problematic but finds it hard to articulate the crux of the issue.
Throughout the book, however the author has tried hard to write in language that readers unfamiliar with the terminology and discourse style of philosophy can understand, and always to make it apparent why and how particular philosophical points bear upon important moral issues in k-12 special education.
List of contents
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1. Basic Moral Questions: The Need for Philosophical Analysis
Chapter 2. The Moral Right of American Children to Receive an Appropriate K-12 Education
Chapter 3. The Zero-Reject Policy
Chapter 4. Inclusion, Community, and Justice
Chapter 5. K-12 Public School Suspensions and Expulsions
Chapter 6. Special Education Due Process Review: A Hearing Officer's Moral Responsibility
Chapter 7. The Moral Responsibility to Provide Every American Child with a Disability
an Appropriate K-12 Education
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author
About the author
By Robert F. Ladenson
Summary
This book concerns basic issues of moral rights, responsibilities, and ideals relative to children with disabilities, their parents, educators, and lawmakers. Such issues underlie intense disputes that have been ongoing for decades since the first federal legislation regarding children with disabilities was enacted.
Additional text
In this book, Bob Ladenson articulates well the justification, morally and logically, for universal quality free public education, and for students with disabilities in particular. His years of experience as a special education hearing officer, and an academic philosopher and ethicist provide a unique vantage point for this analysis. He blends philosophy with individual examples from his work, giving the reader the benefit of understanding both the theory and the real world application. I intend on using this in my classes.
