That means teachers must take responsibility for learning and find ways to evaluate whether students are learning. I think that to be a special teacher means to take this responsibility very seriously. And it's hard to do. Zigmond indicated that the focus of the question distracts attention from the serious issue of providing quality special education services to students. If teachers address this question keeping in mind the characteristics of good instruction, they will be better able to teach well no matter where they are asked to do it.
Different settings provide different instructional opportunities.
With numerous demands vying for the attention and time of special educators today, it may be difficult sometimes to determine what needs to be taught and to assign priorities for learning. In practice, the decisions and planning involved in following this advice are more complex. This method of delivering instruction to students with learning disabilities is neither new nor effective, Zigmond said. At least 25 years ago, schools tried having special education teachers teach the big ideas of the general education curriculum, whittled down to manageable size. The results were inadequate.