The Federal Programs for Education of the Handicapped

The assertion of federal leadership in expanding educational opportunities for the handicapped began modestly in the 1950s. Although federal appropriations had increased significantly during the Nixon years, the fund represented a fraction of the total investment that would have been required to provide every handicapped child a public education. Education for the Handicapped (BEH) has observed progressive improvements in later General Accounting Office (GAO) reports on education for the handicapped. In the view of BEH, evaluations should be performed by professionals possessing specialized knowledge of educational programs and expertise in behavioral science methodologies. The rationale for training generalists was that good auditing standards and practices equipped the staff to evaluate the results of any federal program. The GAO&s;s evaluation procedures characteristically call for preliminary reviews of federal activities to ascertain whether the programs warrant further resource investment for more detailed, in-depth reviews.