Consultation as a Technology and the Politics of School Reform

Special education and school psychology researchers have demonstrated that consultation can be effective. Yet, practitioner surveys suggest it is used infrequently. What accounts for this research-to-practice gap? We argue that consultation is effective and unused for the same reason: It is an educational technology. That is, whereas its developers have perfected a methodical and replicable problem-solving process that draws on an armamentarium of validated interventions, this very model and related methods are viewed as out of step with the zeitgeist of school reform. We explore this unfortunate irony and propose several modest recommendations.