Cross-cultural perspectives on the classification of children with disabilities: Part II. Implementing classification systems in schools.

This article is the second in a 2-part synthesis of an international comparative seminar on the classification of children with disabilities. In this article, the authors discuss classification frameworks used in identifying children for the purpose of providing special education and related services. The authors summarize 7 papers that addressed aspects of disability classification in educational systems in the United States and the United Kingdom. They discuss current policies for determining which children receive special education services, the origins and evolution of these policies, and current dilemmas and challenges associated with classification schemes and the provision of special education. The authors also describe emerging data and possible models and practices that might be used in educational systems. They conclude with the recognition that both formal and informal educational classification systems will continue to be required within a system that must address the competing priorities of individual needs and the broader social and community goals of education. However, as was argued in the previous article, by understanding the mix of intentions that underpin these policies, as well as periodically reviewing the norms that underlie them, it may be possible to move classification to descriptors that can be used to efficiently and effectively define educational needs and distribute resources.

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In Part I of this two-part synthesis of a seminar on the classification of children with disabilities (see Florian et al., this issue), we discussed historical and emerging conceptual frameworks for classifying childhood disabilities and some of the issues associated with using such classifications for educational purposes. In this article, we discuss how those frameworks and associated assumptions have been interpreted within educational systems, specifically as they pertain to the identification of children with disabilities for purposes of providing specialized educational services. We synthesize seven papers that addressed aspects of disability classification in educational systems in the United States and the United Kingdom. We also discuss current policies for determining which children receive special education services, the origins and evolution of these policies, and current dilemmas and challenges associated with classification schemes and the provision of special education. We conclude with a description of models and practices and outline some future directions for the classification of students with disabilities in educational systems.

As noted in Florian et al. (this issue), the classification of children and youth with disabilities is both controversial and complex. When applied specifically for the purpose of determining eligibility for additional specialized educational services, classification can be fraught with many problems. Unlike classification that may take place in clinical settings, classification in school systems is a messy process influenced by many individuals and conducted in an environment of rationed resources. The dilemmas associated with classification have been abundantly dissected in the U.S. and U.K. special education research and policy literature (e.g., Ainscow, 1994, 1999; Booth, 1983; Donovan & Cross, 2002; Heller, Holtzman, & Messick, 1982; Tomlinson, 1982, 1995).

Despite the struggles, the fundamental intent of classifying students with disabilities in schools has primarily been to provide additional educational services and interventions to address individual children's needs. However, within a climate of limited resources and an educational system with inherent inflexibility in what it can provide, classifying students to determine eligibility for special education may take on other purposes that better serve the constraints of the larger system than the targeted children's needs. Classification policies have been roundly criticized in both countries. There are longstanding concerns that labeling or classification is a social construction that reduces individual children to a label to which are attached negative stereotypes, expectations, and exclusion (Tomlinson, 1982). Additional criticisms include the instructional irrelevance of disability labels (Donovan & Cross, 2002; Ysseldyke, 2001) and variability in the implementation of classification criteria (Mercer, Jordan, Allsopp, & Mercer, 1996). The cross-cultural comparison of the evolution of current special education eligibility policies is the focus of this article.

Background of U.S. and U.K. Policies

There are striking similarities between, as well as differences in, the special education classification policies employed by U.S. and U.K. educators and policymakers. Some of these differences are attributable to deep cultural traditions regarding the purpose of schooling and to interpretations of individual civil rights. Before we examine the country-specific aspects of special education policies and the classification of students with disabilities, it is important to note some basic differences between the educational systems in the United States and the United Kingdom.