The Institutional Context of Being a Behavioral Problem

Abstract

Based on qualitative research conducted from September 1998 to May 2001 in a city high school, this article examines a special education program in relation to the institutional processes that were in place to attend to students identified with behavioral disabilities. The article draws attention to how policy impacted school-based activities; the influence of social contexts and professional systems on students' special education placements; and how decisions about students were made through a system of divisions and animosities that often worked against students. The article points out how the behavioral disability system was organized and used to meet the needs of a larger school system that was already set up in a way that categorized and separated students based on a variety of factors related to academic and behavioral abilities, as well as socioeconomic and racial identifications. At a broader level, the article also shows how the needs of professionals and the nature of institutions shape the goals of what professionals and organizations aim to achieve. The qualitative research presented here examines aspects of special education that are mostly unseen by those mandating and implementing disability policy, yet have great influence on young peoples' futures.