Teach Effectively!

How are special education legal events like football instant replays? James McCusker—an economist, educator and consultant who writes a column for The Daily Herald (Everett, WA; US)— contends that the latter illuminate the burden-of-proof issues in the former. He starts with references to referees reviewing football plays, moves to a bit about Shaffer v. Weast, and then discusses current legal challenges to funding of special education in his neighborhood. Mr. McCusker concludes that the burden of proving whether and how much special education is appropriate will involve a calculus that integrates the expense of providing effective special education.

For the most part, parents of special-education students are reasonable people, and this has helped keep budgets from bursting. Still, special education manages to be heartwarming, heart-breaking, effective, questionable and often staggeringly expensive - all at the same time. And it has been extremely difficult, both emotionally and legally, to establish any real standards of cost-effectiveness for it.

Ultimately, the economics of special education will force us to confront the issue. This confrontation will take place in our courts, and the key legal issue will be the burden of proof: who gets to say how much is effective, and how much is enough. And that is when, just as in a hotly contested football game, all our efforts to ensure fairness will pay off.

When someone performs that calculus, I hope that he or she includes the savings that can be realized from providing effective instruction.

Link to Mr. McCusker’s column.