shorter line in the class way down the hallway. When we went to lunch and specials, I felt different and not in a good way. My class then only had twelve kids in it with a teacher and another person who helped out. The other classes with the ‘regular kids’ were better. I just knew that everyone was looking at me and thinking, ‘Boy, is he stupid or what?’ Now, because I did OK in that other class, I am back in the bigger classroom with kids who ride the bus with me and live in my neighborhood. I get extra reading and mathematics help three days a week, but I’m not the only one! Before this, I always had lots of reasons not to go to school. Now, I have more friends. School isn’t so bad—most of the time, anyway.”
It is tough for some students to fit in when others view them as “different.” This affects their self-esteem, which in turn influences their academic performance and social interactions. Special education classes that divide students and flag them as “different” still exist, but inclusion classrooms that offer increased academic and behavioral supports are rapidly replacing them. Differences are becoming the norm in heterogeneous inclusion classrooms that value teachers who differentiate instruction to teach learners of diverse levels as all students learn side by side.
The federal government has enacted laws that outline how individuals with disabilities are educated and included in society. Inclusion classrooms are impacted by these laws. Debates continue on how these laws have “leveled the playing field” for the unique needs of students with disabilities in schools and in the work place, and if additional legislation is required (Black, 2017; UCPLA, 2019). It’s important to understand what the laws state to be certain that inclusion practices are correctly implemented with fidelity to not only provide access but also advancements.
Inclusion by Law
The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (2004b) is influential in inclusion programs. IDEA (2004b) stems from the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (PL 94–142) of 1975, which allows students with disabilities access to the general education curriculum in their least restrictive environment. The act identifies specially designed instruction in a student’s individualized education program to ensure teachers adapt, customize, and individualize the content, methodology, and delivery for each learner’s unique needs (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Exceptional Children Division, 2018). An IEP outlines:
1. Present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP)
2. Annual goals and progress targeted
3. The general education classroom as the first option of placement and as the least restrictive environment if it appropriately meets students’ needs; reasoning if the general education classroom is determined not to be an appropriate placement
4. Related supports (for example, transportation; speech, occupational, and physical therapies; mobility training)
5. Accommodations or modifications with specially designed instructional plans
6. Short-term benchmarks that are required only for children with disabilities who take alternate assessments aligned to alternate achievement standards (Karten, 2019a)
The National Professional Resources website offers a collaborative IEP planner (www.nprinc.com/content/IEP-Collaborative-Planner.pdf), and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education offers a sample IEP teachers can use (https://sites.ed.gov/idea/files/modelform1_IEP.pdf). Specially designed instruction has the general education academic and functional supports to ensure each student is meaningfully and appropriately included, setting him or her on a path to achieve successful outcomes. Specially designed instruction includes, but is not limited to, modeling, environmental adaptations, multisensory teaching strategies, literacy and mathematics adaptations, different delivery and complexity, assistive technology, step-by-step directions, visual cueing, teaching and monitoring social-emotional skills, and other individualized IEP adaptations.
If it is determined that a student meets eligibility requirements, a team of school staff and a student’s family develop an IEP. The IEP has measurable annual goals written for each student’s unique needs. It includes the provision of supplementary aids and services and the reasonable accommodations required. The IEP states the student’s involvement and participation in the general education curriculum, extracurricular activities, and nonacademic activities (Center for Parent Information and Resources, 2017b).
In the United States, the general education or “regular” classroom is the first placement option unless it is determined that the nature or severity of a student’s disability is such that even with the necessary supports and aids in place, the student would not achieve a satisfactory education. In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court established a higher standard for determining the educational benefit a student is entitled to receive under IDEA with Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District (U.S. Department of Education, 2017). This decision considers the unique circumstances of an individual student, including the appropriate services with educational benefit more than de minimus. In Endrew’s case, less is not better. The student, Endrew F., has autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and the court found he was not achieving adequate consistent and sufficient progress and educational benefit in a general education classroom. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling raises the bar for students with disabilities and encourages schools to consider each individual learner’s profile, rather than providing standardized, one-size-fits-all instruction and services (McKenna, 2017).
Inclusion sometimes involves a combination of services and environments, such as a student receiving replacement instruction for mathematics in a separate pull-out resource room, while the rest of his or her instruction is in the inclusion classroom. A team of professionals and the child’s parents, along other individuals who have knowledge of the student and how to interpret the evaluations and data make the individualized appropriate placement decisions. Sometimes the IEP team will place students in the general education classroom with a co-teacher or instructional assistant for all or part of the instructional time. A student’s academic, behavioral, emotional, and social needs may also call for a combination of services or special classes or a separate school, even though these are more restrictive environments. For example, resource or push-in teachers can go into a general education classroom three days a week and then schedule the student for extra help, practice, or remediation in a pull-out program of intervention on the other two days.
As an offshoot of IDEA, response to intervention (RTI) examines student learning and screening data to determine appropriate interventions and monitor students’ progress (Buffum, Mattos, & Malone, 2018). RTI is part of a multitiered system of supports. MTSS and RTI are not synonymous. MTSS provides a framework for struggling students to learn at their individual levels in inclusion classrooms before receiving special education services. It includes academic and behavioral supports that reinforce and enrich student learning.
Students with and without exceptionality receive Tier 1 core instruction. Core instruction includes the essential knowledge that all students should receive. A general or special education teacher may pull students who require Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions into small groups that receive instruction in the general education classroom or in another environment from the same or different provider. During this intervention time, the premise is that no new instruction occurs in the general education classroom that these students would miss. Otherwise, the students who often need more help will be learning less and fall behind their inclusion peers.
These instructional decisions are made by teachers, related service providers, student support teams, and school interventionists.
