Description
This book targets those of us — in public education and in Washington — who believe that we can do far better for all students—general and special education—than current laws allow. It highlights challenges that schools, educators, parents, and students face in today’s dysfunctional 40-year-old special education system and proposes NEW taboo-shattering (yet common sense) directions for the next-generation law.
This little book packs a hell of a punch. I predict that readers will be alternately amazed, slack-jawed, angry, and optimistic about the future of public education—if we are smart enough to take the advice of a real expert, Miriam Freedman, and work together to make education special for all students. Special Education 2.0 is common-sense thinking at its best.
— John Merrow, former education correspondent for PBS NewsHour and founding president of Learning Matters, Inc.
Miriam Freedman is a seed planter of ideas. If you are among the thousands of educators and parents who believe we can do better for our students with disabilities, I highly recommend reading Special Education 2.0 so that you see her vision and perhaps even become part of its transformation.
— Steven R. Sandoval, PhD, executive director, special services, Westminster Public Schools, CO and 2016 Honoree, Education Week Leaders to Learn From
No one will agree with every idea in this courageous, tabooshattering book. But as a conversation-starter, it’s exactly what we need: a call to re-imagine special and general education from top to bottom, rather than remain boxed-in by the past. Let the debate begin!
— Michael J. Petrilli, president, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
