I wonder if Arne Duncan is trying to end the category of special education?

[madfloridian]

29. "whether they can look past the disabilities and see the abilities."

I never worked with a teacher who couldn't do that. When mainstreaming grew, teachers who had not had training already were provided with inservice. I was not a spec ed teacher, but I worked with many of them and had students with disabilities in my classroom frequently.

As to your comment about closing rank.....teachers had better be doing that to survive the efforts by this Democratic administration to privatize education forever. And do parents really want this society of testing extremism? Maybe they'd better close ranks also.

Looks like parents of special needs students are going to have to fight this battle all over again with another 2 years of a Sec of Ed who thinks all students should be tested at IB level.

Both Obama and Arne Duncan have little respect for teachers in public schools who work their butts off.