Is inclusion failing in schools?

Posted by Beth DuBose on Apr 02, 2009

There was an article in The Washington Examiner discussing how a local district in Maryland is concerned about the impact of their inclusion programs. They audited their program and found 100% of the students that had been transitioned from segregated classrooms to inclusion classrooms scored at the lowest level on Maryland’s state math exam, and 81% scored the at the lowest level for the reading exam.

I was surprised to read these facts because I have had quite a bit of experience with both segregated and inclusion classrooms, and found for most students, inclusion classrooms were more beneficial. But after reading further, I understood perhaps why this district was seeing these scores.

The audit also showed that only about 25% of the teachers were actually providing differentiated instruction to the inclusion students. And a mandatory training for teachers that would be working with these inclusion students was only attended by about 50% of the staff. These numbers are more alarming to me. Most teacher programs do not prepare general education classroom teachers to work with special education students. If these teachers are not properly trained, of course the students will struggle. There also seems like there should be better collaboration with the general education and special education teachers. The special education teachers should be able to help, model and provide differentiated instructional practices for the general education teacher. I know educators are pulled in every direction today, and collaboration among all staff is key to providing the tools necessary for helping the students. I am sure if every district across the country did the same audit as this district did, many districts might find that their numbers are pretty similar. I know inclusion is not appropriate for every student, but I do believe that it is beneficial to most students receiving special education services if the inclusion program is well developed.

To read the article, visit The Examiner.