Shared Responsibility for Handicapped Students: Advocacy and Programming.

In a response to new legal requirements for handicapped child education, this monograph presents a sample of current viewpoints from professionals at different levels of education and in related professions concerned with shared responsibility roles in the mainstreaming of handicapped children. The first section consists of six articles dealing with current issues: frequently asked questions about mainstreaming, individual or alternating vs. mutual teacher responsibility models, historical overview, the question of quality control, humanization of the educational system, and funding problems. Section two examines the failures and successes of teacher training institutions in the field of handicapped pupils, critiques one model of preservice and inservice teacher training, and presents some challenges an individual classroom teacher will be called upon to meet. Chapter three examines the mainstreaming concept from technical assistance perspectives; suggests a semi-autonomous, government-funded, technical assistance program; critiques a model for educational administrator training; and reports on one effort of state administrators to collaborate on their problems. Section four examines various ongoing regional, state, and local mainstreaming programs. Section five presents problems in evaluating mainstreaming programs, concentrating on the lack of suitable instrumentation and the diversity of opinions as to what the term "mainstreaming" actually encompasses. The final section clarifies legal mandates related to mainstreaming and discusses their effects and limitations. (MB)