Despite the multiple roles of school counselors related to special education, a national survey of counselor education programs indicated that most programs encourage, but do not require, training to work with exceptional students.
Two of the most neglected populations within the rubric of gifted education are (a) individuals whose talents may not be actualized because they are culturally different from the mainstream culture and (b) socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. These populations of students frequently are overlooked for special programs by school districts whose identification procedures fail to find them or whose standards for program entry are above the tested levels that many of these students achieve. Furthermore, even when these students are found and placed in programs, little attention is given to the background cultural and socioeconomic factors that may seriously affect their performance in special programs and their future achievements beyond these programs. Consequently, the following questions warrant attention: 1. Who are these disadvantaged gifted students, and how do we find them? 2. What common and differential provisions should be made for them in schools? 3. What types of additional facilitation of talent development would be most useful to them? These questions are fundamental to examining the problems and issues associated with this population. WHY THE NEED TO FOCUS ON THESE NEGLECTED GIFTED? Many educators and politicians would question the wisdom of targeting resources for such small-incidence populations within the larger segment of gifted students. Studies have shown, for example, that most gifted learners come from higher socioeconomic backgrounds (Sears & Sears, 1980; VanTassel-Baska & Willis, 1988). Thus, we are looking for a minority within the already limited population of gifted learners. But there are important reasons to pursue this issue:
The purpose of this study was to determine the nature of written policies regarding suspension and expulsion of handicapped students in local education agencies in Virginia. Existing policies were examined in light of six components derived from the review of federal legislation, litigation, and model policies from other states. In addition, responses to a questionnaire were summarized and analyzed to enhance understanding of the use of these procedures with exceptional students in Virginia. Synthesis and refinement of this information produced components of a model procedure that reflects up-to-date trends in disciplining exceptional students.
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