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Mislabeled as Disabled

The Educational Abuse of Struggling Learners and How WE Can Fight It

Published by Radius Book Group
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

Kalman R. “Buzzy” Hettleman exposes the educational abuse suffered by tens of millions of struggling learners, including many who are “Mislabeled as Disabled” and dumped into special education. The majority of these students are not disabled in any medical or other clinical sense. Rather, in violation of federal law, they fail to receive proper instruction and fall farther behind, suffering stigma and segregation. Hettleman also shows how teachers are undervalued heroes denied the teaching tools to do the job right and, like students, are victimized by the system. This book is a call to everyone to become enraged, and then engaged in the struggle for reform.

About The Author

Kalman R. Hettleman is an acclaimed expert and author on special education and struggling learners. He has represented pro bono over 200 students and been instrumental in policy reforms at the local, state and national levels. In 2016-2018, he was a member of the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, charged by the governor and state legislature with recommending comprehensive, statewide K-12 school reform. He has also been Maryland cabinet secretary for social welfare programs, a university professor of social policy, a public interest attorney, Deputy Mayor of Baltimore, and manager of state and local political campaigns. He is the author of the acclaimed book It’s the Classroom, Stupid: A Plan to Save America’s Schoolchildren.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Radius Book Group (March 14, 2019)
  • Length: 240 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781635766400

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Raves and Reviews

"The author lays out a cogent case for making changes to the system [...] Hettleman offers a cleareyed assessment of the political realities reformers face. The concluding chapters deliver useful guidance for parents advocating for their own children and for activists working on broader education reform." - Kirkus Reviews "Hettleman, a Baltimore City school board member and national educational reform crusader, lays out the story like a well-structured crime novel [and] provides a road map for fixing a broken system [...] Written with clarity and a sense of urgency, the book is aimed at teachers, administrators, and legislators as well as at parents [...] Mislabeled as Disabled is a bracing call to arms [that challenges] the state of American education." - Foreword Clarion Reviews "[Author Hettleman's] tone may ruffle some feathers; he comes out with guns blazing in defense of victimized children. But his solution transcends partisan politics and clearly identifies steps to action in this convincing portrait of educational mismanagement. Lay readers as well as professionals will find his case compelling and enlightening." - BlueInk Reviews

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