Inclusion
From WikEd
[edit] Descriptions, definitions, synonyms, organizer terms, types of
Inclusion is a term which expresses commitment to educate each child, to the maximum extent appropriate, in the school and classroom he or she would otherwise attend. The practice of teaching all children in the same classroom regardless of physical, mental, or developmental disabilities sounds very progressive. There is a point of contention however within the education community concerning whether a one size fits all approach is good or practical. Under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act(IDEA) of 1997 students have the right to be taught in what is termed least restrictive environment (LRE) meaning a classroom setting that would provide the greatest interaction with students without disabilities. The problem arises when you try and include one or more students with severe physical or developmental problems. The question then becomes are all the students receiving the best education they can, or is everybody being cheated to some degree?
[edit] Application in classrooms and similar settings
1817 the first formal special education program is started in the United States by William Gallaudet. While it claimed to offer education it was much more successful at keeping the children segregated from society.
1850-1950 Residential schools or institutions are created for children with blindness, deafness, and cognitive disabilities. By 1918 all states mandate free public education for all citizens, except minorities and children with disabilities. 1923 Rhode Island opens the first special education class in the United States. Children with disabilities are sent away to large cities for educations.
1950-1975 Brown V. Board of Education establishes seperate is not equal education. Only 1 in 5 students with disabilities are educated. 1973 Rehabilitation Act provided protection for people with "qualified" disabilities from discrimination in the work place. Under the law employers must provide "reasonable accomadations" for qualified disabled workers, unless it put undue hardship on the employer to do so.
1990 Americans With Disabilities Act was passed and built on the framework of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The act was amended in 1994, 1997 and again in 2004.
IEP's Individual Educational Programs were one of the focal points of the ammended IDEA of 1997. There are several new changes to the IDEA Reauthorization statute of 2004. This link National Association of Special Education Teachers, offers information and side-by-side comparisons of the new changes and old statute.
Barriers to Inclusion: There are three barriers to inclusion. The first is organizational. The National Education Association recommends class sizes of no more than 28, with no more the 25% being special education students. This translates into money (more teachers) and time (for planning), neither of which schools have much of. The second barrier is attitudinal. Teachers tend to agree that inclusion is a good idea, yet they feel unprepared to work in those kinds of settings. Also, collaboration means a shift in control and an intrusion on their "personal" classroom space. The third barrier is knowledge. The classroom teacher often is not trained to work with special education students and special education teachers may not be trained in specific classroom content areas. (Hines, 2001)
[edit] Evidence of effectiveness
Evidence of effectiveness clearly depends on who you ask. No Child Left Behind has several levels of reporting and various types of measures of success. This link to the National Center for Educational Outcomesoffers overviews of how the NCLB Act is aligned with IDEA and its effect on people with disabilities through a Q&A forum. There are also a number of useful links to other resources.
Research tends to support inclusion in several ways. Inclusion benefits special education students socially and raises their academic standards. It offers more support, usually in terms of an extra teacher or aide. It also promotes a better understanding of students with disabilities. (Hines, 2001) The self-esteem of students with disabilities is raised by being in a regular education environment. Two counties in Florida, Hernando and Sumter Counties’ District ESE, report higher scores on their FCAT test for special education students as they transition to middle school after participating in inclusive settings. The FSU Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy states, "Inclusive education provides benefits for all students and school personnel and serves as an exemplar for an inclusive society." (FDDC, 2002)
[edit] Critics and their rationale
There are many critics of the No Child Left Behind mandates on including all children to meet their adequate yearly progress. Some of the harshest criticism comes from the special education teachers. Some of their complaints include that teaching standardized tests is more of a memorization exercise than a useful educational experience. After the pressure to remember material that is not meaningful to them is over they quickly forget it. Also because of the pressure to teach the test subject focus tends to narrow to just what they will be tested on. Another similar complaint is that a one size fits all education track may not fulfill the needs of a special student. Critics also point out that schools that are labeled as failing allow parents to relocate their children to other schools. With little or no additional funding these schools soon become overburdened and also face the same problems that brought students to them. It doesn't build and equip new schools where the old ones have failed providing a more level playing field between rich and poor districts, failing and successful schools.
[edit] Alternative explanations due to Diversity considerations
[edit] Signed ‿life experiences‿, testimonies and stories
This school year my district will begin full inclusion. I will be one of the six special education inclusion teachers. I have mixed feelings regarding this change. Legislature is pushing inclusion within our country but our legislators do not work "in the trenches" every day. For many of our students I think this will be great, general ed. and special ed. alike. It will help some to push themselves a little further, and teach some others compassion. There are some though that worry me. One student told me at the end of this school year, "you guys are gonna stick us out there and forget about us". This broke my heart. Of all students to say this,he was a favorite,even though I probably shouldn't have any. Some of these kids are scared. I hope they do not feel this way when we get started. I hope we all find that this will be a good change. -V.C.
The school district that I work in is small and rural. Close to half of the student population qualify for reduced lunches, and well over a third of the students are special needs with IEP's. The No Child Left Behind reauthorization act of 2004 calls for more inclusiveness and accountability. The law allows for 1% of the student population to have testing accommodations and for our school that means 2 students. There are five students that I know of that cannot and probably never will read above a fifth grade level. Three of the five students plans after graduation are to enter group homes according to family members. I think inclusion for the majority of special need students, if done correctly with proper funding and adequate staff can be a very rewarding experience for the student body as a whole. However, in cases like ours and worse there will have to be some changes to make the evaluation process equitable to all districts rich and poor, rural and urban.
Due to buget constraints we now have 2 less staff members. We also have three new students transferring into the district second semester all of which have IEP's. They can't make it in large schools. It takes a lot of extra time to do staffings and devise lesson plans to accommodate the special needs students. We are literally being squeezed into failure if we don't receive some extra funding or new regulations for adjusting our AYP to match our student population demographic.
Kim Snyder
One of the really cool things about being a music teacher is that you get to see all of the students in a varied kind of situation. All of the music classes in my junior high are inclusion classes. Although it is challenging at times, it is also really neat to see how the kids work together. We have some children who are severely disabled and will never be able to live outside of a community in the same class with children that are amazingly gifted. They learn and work with and from each other. This may be the only time in their lives when they get the opportunity to do this and I think that it helps them to be more sensitive of each others strengths and weaknesses. A. Dorough
This is my first year of teaching an inclusion math class and it would be an understatement to say that it has been challenging. It is my understanding that in Illinois an inclusion class should contain no more than 30% LD students. Currently in my inclusion class of 28 students,14 of those students receive special education services. That is exactly 50% of my class receiving services. While I am grateful for the LD teacher that is in there on a daily basis, 14 LD students is more than we should be handling. When I plan for this class, I always have to think about whether they will be able to follow the directions of the planned activity and whether it will be help them learn the topic covered. At what point does this become less of an "inclusion" class and more of tracking students based on their ability level? - M. Hafenrichter
In my fourth grade classroom, I have two students with IEP's. One of the students is LD in reading and the other one is severely MI. Our special ed. porgram is very understaffed for the number of students they deal with as well as the number of different needs the students have. I am fortunate to have an aide because of the MI student. She also helps with the LD student. Most classes with students like this do not have an aide. I think it is important for school districts to look closely at the funding the put into staffing special ed. programs. With so many more students being classified, this is a huge area of need in most schools. Not only do classroom teachers need the assistance, but the students benefit greatly when there are more people around them to support thier learning. E. Kilroy
This is my first year of having an inclusion math class and I have found it to be very challenging. Out of 28 students in the class, 14 of those students have IEP's. There is a LD teacher with me in the class, but when half of the class recieeves special services it is very hard to get things accomplished. Ultimately I end up planning different activities based on the needs of the classroom, but how is this fair to the regular education students in this class? It seems more like tracking the students than it does including them in a regular education classroom. M Hafenrichter
I understand that Inclusion in all cases is not perfect. But I am a strong advocate for inclusion. To give students the opportunity to succeed in life. All people have some form of disability, some excel in sports other academics, but when we struggle with academics it can cause problems with comprehension and understanding of society. One of the major pros with inclusion is giving students the needed social involvement to succeed in life, but also the ability to be challenged and not seen as different. To qualify for special education services and be places in special education you must score high in one area and low in another with out having a mental disorder/retardation. I was the first student at my high school to take calculus and have an AD I was the first student with an LD to take advanced science classes, because other people my parents included fought for inclusion. Because of this I became a teacher to help break down barriers for special education students. Many regular education students do not believe that special education students are worth the time of day, and they are shocked to see a regular education teacher who has an LD and soon a special education student with a Masters degree from the University of Illinois. Nic D.
[edit] References and other links of interest
- Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.7d008a279d128adddeb3ffdb62108a0c/
- A Publication of the Center for Teaching and Learning-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
http://ctl.unc.edu/tfitoc.html
- Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusive
FDDC, Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, (2002). What is Inclusion? Including School-Age Students with Developmental Disabilities in the Regular Education Setting. Retrieved April 25, 2008, from Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy Web site: http://www.cpeip.fsu.edu/resourceFiles/resourceFile_18.pdf
Hines, Rebecca A. (2001 December). Inclusion in Middle Schools. Retrieved April 25, 2008, from Eric Digests Web site: http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-3/inclusion.htm
