The new Education Next is out. As always worth reading. In particular there is a forum on innovation and entrepreneurship and Todd Oppenheimer looks at educational software (my take on his last book here). And Sandy Kress discusses NCLB, important reading for tea leaf readers…
But I don’t get this Jay Greene article about special education costs. It starts off discussing macro costs but then shifts to busting the “myth” that high cost-low incidence kids via private placements are really the big cost center. Problem is, I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone make that claim except in localized circumstances like Washington, D.C., which Jay discusses? There is an issue with high cost – low-incidence kids* in small school districts but that’s a function of size not aggregate costs. The real cost centers in special ed are kids who are in special ed but just haven’t been taught to read and that is preventable.
*Meaning relatively rarely occurring but expensive disabilities.