“We can no longer celebrate the success of one group of students if another group of students is still struggling,” said Secretary Duncan last night at the American Association of People with Disabilities Conference in Washington, DC. “We have to be open and honest about where we fall short.”
For too long, the answer to educating students with disabilities was to isolate them and deny them the same educational experiences others were having. Those days are over. The fact is — 60 percent of students with disabilities today spend 80 percent of their time in the regular school environment.
Those numbers are a great improvement and there is no reason they should not keep rising as more and more teachers know how to effectively work with students with disabilities.
Secretary Duncan also vowed to end the so-called “2 percent rule” that obscures an accurate portrait of the academic needs of America’s students with disabilities. He said that students with disabilities should be judged with the same accountability system as everyone else and that the Department of Education would not issue another policy that allows districts to disguise the educational performance of 2 percent of students.
Read Secretary Duncan’s remarks. See a video from his visit on Monday to Beers Elementary School in Washington, DC, a school that is successfully implementing an inclusion program.
Click here for an alternate version of the video with an accessible player.
10 Comments
I applaud Secretary Duncan for vowing to end the 2% rule and embrace the philosophy of inclusion. It is the only way to move forward with students with disabilities in our society today. I have three children, two of which are learning disabled, and as my 2007 graduate experienced the ‘special ed’ curriculum and struggles today in college, my future graduate of 2013 is benefiting greatly from the inclusion philosophy. The two both with the same learning disability, yet the one who has so greatly experienced inclusion in the classroom succeeds in his schoolwork at such a higher level. The future of our children lies in including them in every aspect of the learning community with the services and supports available to them. Again, thank you Secretary Duncan for your vision and commitment to an inclusive education for our children!
Thank you so much for this. My kids are smart and can do anything. Now Schools of Education will have to teach the teachers of reading how to teach reading to all kinds of learners!
The USA must change their contract with their Public Education System. If we don’t the USA is sunk. Not the teacher’s but they will have to adapt.
No more “each building is a kingdom” and free to follow the wins of fads. Now it is accountability for all.
Next, we need to demand better parenting by parents. Tax breaks for parenting classes with objectives of parenting for a kid’s educational outcome in mind.
This needs to be careful – the inclusion policy in the UK has gone too far and now parents of children with difficulties are being forced to send their children to regular schools against their own wishes…
If this is a choice and is in the child’s interests then it is good – if it goes too far then it just one more battle for parents to face…
95-98% of sll students with disabilities should be educated in regular ed classsrooms. Keep class size to 20 and be sure that the most effective teachers are teaching in them. Reduce and eliminate pull-outs; these programs just don’t work. Differentiate instruction, and provide accommodations and modifications to students in the classroom.
Inclusion will not work with all disabilities. There will always be a need for self-contained placement. If a child is functioning on a 2 year old level it would be ludicrous to place that child in an Algebra I class. For those students who are high-functioning, inclusion will work with a lot of extra help such as a learning lab or having aids in all of the classrooms. But since we don’t put education as a priority, funding is low in most states for schools thus denying schools the resources necessary for inclusion to work. I am a parent and I am an educator so I am not speaking theoretically.
The Least Restrictive Environment for a Deaf child is a school for the Deaf, where the said child can communicate as independently as possible. A community school requires this child to depend on an interpreter all day long. Take into consideration a deaf child with a developmental disability. This child at a school for the Deaf sees language all around him/her all day, from custodial staff to administration. They have an opportunity to actually learn their language. Inclussion in a mainstream program is not Best for all children with disabilities, we need to look at each child and parents need to choose the Best placement for Their child.
I am attending college now for my BA in elementary education. I have observed many classrooms in many different schools throughout the state of Illinois. I believe that parents should always have the right to send their child to the school of choice. This means if the parent believes their child would benefit more in a public setting that is where the child shall attend. If the child benefits more in a more private school setting that is for children with disabilities that is where they shall land. I do know that teachers deserve much more credit than they recieve. I hear talk from all over that places responsibilities and blame on teachers. I believe the parents should take more responsibility for their childs education whether they are disabled or not. The education of our children falls under the responsibility of all who are involved in the childs life!
The people who are engaging in this discussion are obviously not teachers in regular education classrooms. Inclusion is a ‘nice’ idea, but is not practical. Special needs students need special attention. When special needs students are a part of regular classrooms, they require an unfair portion of the teacher’s time. The teacher must divert time and attention away from the ‘regular’ pupil. School hours are finite. Instructional minutes are precious. Requiring one teacher to meet the real and rigorous academic standards and performance objectives for both kinds of learners is impractical, inappropriate and ineffective. Teachers need to be frank and need to be honest: Special needs students need their own classrooms with their own teachers who have earned special credentials. As we all know, money is the issue. Throwing all of the students in one classroom is cheaper than the alternative which is providing the appropriate setting for both. Clumping all learners with a regular teacher is like clumping all ‘sick’ patients with a regular medical doctor. Special illnesses require specially trained doctors; special needs learners need specially trained teachers regardless of the cost.
As a special educator the idea of inclusion for all can be misleading. For students with learning disabilities the idea of inclusion should already be in practice but when it comes to students with severe developmental and behavioral disabilities it may not be the correct placement for them. That is why students have an IEP that is written by a team that includes the special education teacher, general education teacher, parents and other interested parties. The idea is that the student is getting what they need in the environment that suits that child. The idea of one environment fits all goes against the purpose of special education. Pullout services serve a purpose to provide intensive interventions for students and differentiation in the classroom though great to give students instruction in a different way may not give the student the extra support that they really need to succeed. Government and school officials beware, inclusion for all may seem like a good idea but maybe what is needed is students to be in the classroom for the time that is appropriate for that student. Logic needs to have a place in education.
Educating students with disabilities in segregated settings only perpetuates the long-term outcome in which they will require more expensive, future care (which costs taxpayers more) and less value is placed on them. I have worked in special ed. for 17 years and see first-hand, daily, how successful students with significant disabilities can be when they are NOT separated from their peers. For instance, one young man I work with screams and becomes frustrated very easily when in the segregated environment. I won’t call it a classroom because the learning that occurs there prepares him for a segregated world. When he is in the general classrooms with other students he is quiet and does the same assignment as other students with minor accomodations. The other students learn there are people in their world who are not exactly like them, but they are not much different either. I consider that a major accomplishement for him, but am saddened that he has only been able to accomplish this at the high school level.