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Epiphany from Joan Goodman's book "When Slow Is Fast Enough": IEPs amount to "mandatory behaviorism." Their focus on specific, measurable behaviors "forces teachers to concentrate on narrow accomplishments, restrict free choice," and manipulate kids with extrinsic inducements.
"The more specific the goal, the more control must be exerted over the response, so only an extraordinarily ingenious teacher can be child-directed and flexible yet [still] conform to the IEP law."
Alfie Kohn
in reply to Alfie Kohn • • •Goodman's book helped me to understand a more general truth: Sometimes the problem isn't with the tweakable details of a certain procedure or policy; rather, the policy itself may reflect hidden premises (in this case, a reductive Skinnerian worldview) and will invariably produce unwanted effects.