National policy and situated meaning: the case of Head Start and the handicapped

Recent amendments to the Economic Opportunity Act required Head Start programs to increase the number of "handicapped" children to ten percent of those served. Using an interactionist perspective and participant observation data from 30 programs, this paper discusses the effect of the legislation on local programs, the process by which official rates of deviance are produced, and the manner in which mandates from the national level alter situated meaning. Implications for theory and policy are suggested.