Background: Considering the rapid global movement towards inclusion for students with special educational needs (SEN), there is a surprising lack of pedagogical or didactic theories regarding the ways in which inclusive education may affect students with SEN. Group composition within the educational setting may play a role in determining the…

The failure of common methods of research synthesis to arrive at conclusions about effectiveness of special education is discussed. Meta-analysis, the analysis of analyses, is proposed as an alternative. Results of meta-analyses in the areas of special versus regular class placement, process training, and medically-based intervention are…

A meta-analysis was performed on 11 empirical studies of the effects of mainstreaming. Results indicated that mainstreamed disabled students consistently outperformed nonmainstreamed students with comparable special education classifications. The most success was found in programs with design features (such as continuous assessment) suggested by…

This review of studies comparing children with behavioral disorders in different educational settings found that pupils in self-contained programs displayed greater improvement in academic achievement than did similar pupils in regular classes. However, the reverse pattern applied to changes in self-concept. Follow-up data indicated enormous…

The study involving six Philadelphia schools was designed to validate the Circle Test of Honesty as a prescreening technique for identifying candidates for placement in emotionally disturbed (ED) classes. A search of the literature revealed a lack of research correlating moral judgment with identification of disturbed children or with rate of…