This book will address substantial information gaps in the evolving field of special education. Arguably, over the past thirty years, no other area of education has been as radically transformed as the provision of services to children with disabilities. Since the mid 1970s, special education has steadily grown to reach 12 per cent of the U.S. student population in grades K-12, and millions of children from birth to age five. Despite its promise of equal access, special education has become a controversial field in many respects, including its high cost, questionable pedagogical effectiveness, and differential outcomes across localities, family income levels, and ethnicities. The more typical approach in the literature highlights the legal and procedural mandates that dominate the discourse, but fails to explore the underlying assumptions and inconsistencies that make this area of education a controversial and unsettled enterprise. This handbook departs from the traditional books in this field by focusing on the ways that special education policies and practices are formulated and enacted.