The Role of Special Education Interest Groups in National Policy

This study adopts a political perspective and is grounded in the assumption that special education is a policy domain characterized by multiple and competing interests. The interest groups studied operate in a political, multi-institutional policy environment and employ targeted strategies to further specific policy goals. Special education as a national policy is the sum of incremental policy making across multiple institutions. The multiple access points to the policymaking system afford institutions the ability to create and interpret policy across time and contexts. As a result, special education policy is defined by federal law, corresponding state laws, regulations, judicial interpretations, and local implementation. This research focuses specifically how advocacy groups "package" their interests to policy makers, strategies they choose, and their overall effectiveness. This study is the first that analyzes special education interest groups' behavior and effectiveness over a 30-year time span, using advocacy groups as units of analysis. The study also increases our knowledge about the political participation of parents of children with disabilities, who have a deep personal investment in the policy outcomes and who behave differently from groups that represent professionals. Finally, the study's longitudinal focus on advocacy organizations from the initial passage of the federal special education statute in 1975 through its reauthorizations contributes to the knowledge of interest group interactions over time. This is an important book for readers with a specific interest in special education policy and political scientists who are more generally interested in the broader questions of public policy making. The book is also of interest to practitioners in the fields of special education and public policy.