A critical analysis of current issues related to instruction for school-aged children with a focus on those with special educational needs. The emphasis is on using well-founded research and data to inform instructional practices and decision-making. This course is designed to promote reflective thinking about key topics that educators must conceptualize from both theoretical and practical perspectives. It is intended to provide students with knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable evidence-based understanding of what is involved in working with exceptional learners across a variety of settings, but primarily in an inclusive classroom situation. Focus is placed on curriculum being flexible in responding to diversity, so that teachers are guided to make appropriate accommodations and modified expectations for the various categories of exceptionality. This course includes a service-learning experiential component to enable students to make connections between theory, research, and practice.