inclusion

Inclusion is considered the Least Restrictive Environment, or “LRE” for a high majority of special education students. The IDEA, or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975, mandates that children and youth ages 3-21 with disabilities be provided a free and appropriate public education. According to the National Center for Education (2011), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act describes the least restrictive environment is the environment in which special education students can be educated in with their normal functioning peers. Although the mandate of least restrictive environment was written into the law in the 1970s, it has taken much longer for it to be implemented in schools settings. In the mid to late 1970s, individuals with disabilities were primarily educated in separate classrooms away from their same age peers and rarely encountered students without disabilities (Swain & Nordness, 2012). Luckily for students, the way in which our education systems educate students with disabilities has improved. In the 1980s, “mainstreaming” became a popular way to educate disabled students. The mainstreaming philosophy focused on allowing individuals with disabilities to participate in courses such as music, art, physical education, and some content classes. Disabled students would be allowed to participate in these traditional academic content courses if they were able to keep up with the traditional academic content standards with little additional supports (Swain & Nordness, 2012). Implementing the mainstreaming method into the classroom was an improvement to the way schools educated special education students. Currently, school districts are practicing inclusion more frequently than in the past. St...

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...student engagement during the learning process. In this model, one teacher takes the lead role while the other engages in detailed observations or data collection. Sheanoka and Alman (20) go on to claim that within the inclusion classroom it is very beneficial for both teachers to take on an active role and alternate between the lead/assist roles whenever possible. Students must see the teachers collaborating and sharing the teaching responsibility and discipline for all children. When taught using the co-teaching method, special education students scored an average of 78% on reading proficiency tests. In comparison, those students not taught using the co-teaching method scored an average of 67% on reading proficiency tests. The 11% increase in reading proficiency is too high to ignore. To state it plainly, special education students benefit from co-teaching.