Mainstreaming

The passage of Public Law 94-142, signed into law by President Gerald Ford on November 25, 1975, which has as its overriding goal, an education for all handicapped children and youth, has been termed one of the few occasions wherein modern professional ideologies and technologies have been codified into federal law and thus into a national policy (Michaelis, 1980, p. ix). The result of four years of legislative battle, its sweeping realignments has underscored the pressing need for new guidelines in the responsibility of America's primary-secondary educational system to handicapped citizens and their parents.

The regulations specified for P.L. 94-142 in the Federal Register, 1977, p. 42474, are as follows:

(1) To assure that all handicapped children have available to them a free appropriate public education;

(2) To assure that the rights of handicapped children and their parents are protected;

(3) To assist states and localities in providing for the education of handicapped children; and

(4) To assess and assure the effectiveness of efforts to educate such children (Michaelis, 1980, p. 7).

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remediation as an analysis of his strengths and weaknesses may require, then we get to the concept of mainstreaming" (Michaelis, 1980, p. 25; Lamm, 1982, p. 28). The involvement of parents is required by law in the acceptance of any special education program recommended. The parents may agree or disagree, in which case they are entitled to a hearing. Many districts have either discussed or actually implemented programs providing counseling for parents and the child to help them move smoothly through the transition to mainstreaming. In the first few years following the 1978 implementation of mainstreaming, research indicated a lack of preparation of most instructors working with the handicapped. In the years since, there still appears to be a major discrepancy between the recommendations for successful mainstreaming and the situation that actually exists in public schools (Gfeller & Darrow, 1988, p. 47). According to educators Kate Gfeller and Alice-Ann Darrow, the intent of P.L. 94-142 has been admirable; unfortunately, research suggests less-than-overwhelming satisfaction in the profession with mainstreaming as it exits (Gfeller & Darrow, p. 47). Citing the music field as their reference point, Gfeller and Darrow point
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Approximate Word count = 2774
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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