Abstract
Catholic educators in recent years have worked to increase their schools’ capacity to provide special education services to more students. The expansion of federal programs to support students with special needs has aided in dealing with this issue, but it has also exacerbated problems. The exacerbation comes from the increased focus on both the needs of children and the inability of the schools to respond positively as often as they would like. The aid comes in the form of some governmental assistance as well as increased financial support from local sources. However, the demand for services continues to exceed the resources available to respond. This paper explores the current dimensions of this situation.
Highlights
There is no more painful conversation for Catholic school principals than when they must inform a family that the special needs of one of their children cannot be met by the school and they must transfer that child – usually accompanied by others in the family – to a public school so that the child’s needs can be adequately met
The demand for services for students with special needs far exceeds the capacity to respond in almost all instances
UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS (USCCB). As part of this increased interest in special education, the Department of Education at the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) conducted a national study of Catholic school children with disabilities in which they documented the number of children with disabilities in Catholic schools as well as the extent of services provided to them (USCCB, 2002a)
Summary
Catholic educators in recent years have worked to increase their schools’ capacity to provide special education services to more students. The expansion of federal programs to support students with special needs has aided in dealing with this issue, but it has exacerbated problems. The exacerbation comes from the increased focus on both the needs of children and the inability of the schools to respond positively as often as they would like. The demand for services continues to exceed the resources available to respond. This paper explores the current dimensions of this situation
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