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The rapid growth of special needs vouchers has been accompanied by the loss of historic civil rights and protections under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We examine three of the largest special needs voucher programs in the United States: those in Florida, Georgia and Ohio. We find that these programs and the largest private special education schools within these states are silent on the right to education in the LRE. This study focuses on how silencing the right to be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE), thus inclusive education, is taking place. Using Huckin's framework of textual silence and critical discourse analysis, we identify this silence as manipulative, drawing connections between historical segregation, neoliberal ideology and the rhetoric of market choice in the United States. We discuss implications regarding segregation, equity, and education policy.

The current movement toward increasing privatization in general and market education in particular has been extensively examined in terms of its neoliberal roots and incompatibility with the aims of public, democratic education. This analysis presents a different critique, one that draws upon current economic theory and research to challenge the most fundamental assumptions and claims of market education. Contrary to presumed virtues of profit, competition and choice, we argue that the forces of rent seeking in the market model of education do not operate according to these principles and are exacerbating structures of inequality and segregation. We outline an alternative conceptual framework for understanding this model.

This study measures the effectiveness of Collaborative Learning Assessment through Dialogue (CLAD) on reading achievement in inclusive classrooms in the USA. The CLAD process involved students collaboratively completing multiple-choice quizzes, using dialogue and critical thinking to reach consensus and receiving immediate feedback on their responses. The procedure was implemented in three third-grade classrooms (n = 30) in a midwestern elementary school for the purpose of reducing a significant achievement gap between these students and those who attended a different school within the same district (n = 95). The effectiveness of CLAD was assessed though a comparison of students' scores on a state reading achievement test designed to measure their ability to construct, examine, and extend meaning in text. The test was administered to both groups in October 2003 and again in March 2004. While both the intervention and comparison groups showed significant improvement in reading achievement scores, the intervention group showed significantly greater growth with a mean growth rate of 19.78 (0.004) and effect size of 0.60. The achievement gap between the two groups of students was reduced from a 13-point gap in their mean scores to a three-point gap. (Contains 3 tables.)

Although the concept of person-centered services has gained much popularity, there are significant discrepancies in the extent to which service agencies are actually implementing it. Eight organizations, each of which was successfully providing person centered services to at least some individuals, were examined. Some agencies were implementing the approach with significantly higher proportions of individuals receiving their services than were others. Interviews and participant observations were used to examine how the various organizational contexts contributed to these differences. Some organizations were found to be well-suited to the approach, whereas others posed significant limitations to the number of individuals who benefited or the rate at which they were likely to benefit from this approach.