Rural perspectives and special education policy: Consideration of equity, efficiency and choice

Rarely has the rural perspective been included specifically in federal special education policy statements, a form of social policy. This article discusses the importance of such an inclusion from an original view: the culture of policy. The culture of policy includes the dynamic characteristics that allow policy to be implemented in particular ways from the federal level to the local level. In this article, special education policy is utilized to portray the cultural aspects of policy so that this notion can be incorporated into service implementation.