Postmodernism in Special Education

As a basis for policy, constructivism has an ideological character that draws from but is not identical to Piagetian or Vygotskian notions of constructed knowledge. Special educators should be wary of borrowing fashionable rhetoric of postmodernism to justify development or reform of instruction and curriculum unless accompanying constructs and values can first be disentangled. In reflecting on the articles in this special issue, I indicate that there are higher stakes for special education, particularly in national curriculum and testing reform, that accompany constructivism as a rationale or framework for development of instructional curricular strategies for students with disabilities.