Mainstreaming: Perspectives on Educating Handicapped Children in the Public School

Public Law 94-142 represents the historic integration and culmination of litigation and social forces which have attempted to provide equal educational opportunities for handicapped children. This new law mandates comprehensive plans which assure a free and appropriate education for all handicapped children (Public Law 94-142, Note 1). Educational placement for the handicapped must now be provided in accordance with due process procedures and placement must be determined in a manner consistent with the doctrine of least restrictive alternative (LRA). Due process, guaranteed by the 5th and 14th Amendments of the Constitution, provides all handicapped children with a fair and impartial hearing prior to placement proceedings. The LRA doctrine attempts to ensure that handicapped children be placed in as normalized an educational environment as is appropriate to their individual needs. When applied to the placement of handicapped pupils in the public schools, LRA is frequently operationalized through what is metaphorically referred to as mainstreaming. School systems are required by law to specify and implement alternative models for the education of the handicapped. But there appears to be little agreement on what basis alternative educational arrangements should be de-