The article examines the omission of special education as a focus of concern in recent national reports and analyses concerned with excellence in education, including negative implications for low-achieving students and those currently receiving special services. The effect of current political and economic variables on educational trends is…

This study was a follow-up to a 1993 study which surveyed Iowa school districts to compare types of programs for gifted students in Iowa with the 16 types found in a 1985 national survey (the Richardson study). The present study examined the five program types which the 1993 study identified as having a large number of characteristics…