The issue of educational placements for students with disabilities has been an ongoing issue brought to attention in 1975 by the passage of the Special Education Act all children with disabilities, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). This law required that procedures be implemented that protect the rights of disabled children and ensure that, to the extent appropriate, handicapped children are educated with children who are not handicapped and that the removal of handicapped children from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of such handicap is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily (Part B, section 612(5)(B)). Even with the most recent reauthorizations of this law (1997 and 2004) this section of the law remained intact. More recently and under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001), a major push has been to hold school systems more accountable for achieving special education students to pass state assessments especially in the areas of mathematics and reading . Math and reading are also the areas of greatest difficulty for special education students. For some time now, questions regarding classroom placement, teaching methods, the curriculum used and the qualification of teachers have been dominant. The academic placement of students with disabilities therefore continues to be a controversial issue and further research is needed. Placement of Special Education Students and Performance Results on Mathematics Assessments According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, 2005, 2007), students with disabilities consistently perform lower than...... half of the paper.... .. The Journal of Special Education, 38(4), Retrieved from ERICRea, P., MClaughlin, V., & Walther-Thomas, C. (2002 ). Outcomes for students with learning disabilities in inclusive and extractive programs. Exceptional Children, 68(2), Retrieved from ERIC(Rea, MClaughlin, & Walther-Thomas, 2002) Rosas, C, & Campell, L. (2010). Who teaches mathematics to our neediest students? a descriptive study. Teacher Education and Special Education, 33(2), Retrieved from ERICYang, X, Shaftel, J, Glasnapp, D, & Poggio, J. (2005). Qualitative or quantitative differences? Latent class analysis of mathematics ability for special education students. The Journal of Special Education, 38(4), Retrieved from ERICCole, K.N., Mills, P.E., Dale, P.S., & Jenkins, J.R. (1991). Effects of preschool integration for children with disabilities. Exceptional children, 58, 36-45.