Challenging the Singularity of Special Education: Historical Origins, Teacher Education, and Alternate Models for Truly Inclusive Classrooms

This thought-provoking textbook explores how special education became distinct from general education over time, through changes in teacher education, research funding, teacher licensure, school organization, and student stratification. Each chapter offers key ideas and discussion questions that invite readers to examine the construct of disability and how it came to merit an established, distinct position within education in light of our improving understanding of the learning needs of each individual child in the classroom and community. The book challenges current models of segregated placement, curriculum, and behavior management and poses alternatives that recognize the tremendous, rich diversity found in classrooms, acknowledging overlapping opportunities to address the needs of students in a more comprehensive, integrated way. Challenging the Singularity of Special Education is key reading for graduate and undergraduate students in issues- or special topics-oriented courses in teacher preparation or educational leadership programs. The book is also a useful resource for designing course curricula.

Robert L. Osgood is a retired Professor of Education who has taught at Colgate University, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Muskingum University, and St. Norbert College. He has published three books as well as numerous articles in History of Education Quarterly, Teachers College Record, and the Indiana Magazine of History, among others. Currently he has been named to the Fulbright Special Scholar List from June 2023 to June 2026.