The Wildwood Institute

Welcome to the Wildwood Institute!

Promoting Practices and Policies That Enable People With Disabilities
to Lead Productive and Independent Lives

The Wildwood Institute was created in 1996 to serve as a resource for policy-makers and practioners around the issue of efficient and effective services for people with developmental disabilities. The Institute's first project was the creation of its groundbreaking Framework for the Evaluation of Cost and Benefit in Special Education, which was developed under the guidance of a National Panel of Experts. The Framework was utilized not only in engagements with numerous school districts, but also on a state-wide research project sponsored by the State of New York.

Several years of work with the Framework led the Institute's leadership to develop its change model for special education, The Three C's of Special Education. This model recognized that virtually any problem, or set of problems, within a special education system could be classified within the realms of curriculum, character, and coordination. Once classified, the model could be used for developing plans to address the identified issues.