Inclusive Education 1
Running head: INCLUSIVE EDUCATION SETTINGS
The Effectiveness of Inclusive Education Settings
Inclusive Education 2
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION SETTINGS
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to clearly identify the effectiveness of inclusive education
settings. As a result of the influence of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement
Act and the No Child Left Behind, attention and research have focused on inclusion and
inclusive settings. Inclusive education is the attempt to educate individuals with intellectual
disabilities by integrating them into normal structures of the educational system. Inclusive
education is complex and involves a variety of issues including the development of school
policies, changes to curriculum; preparing new teachers and providing training for existing
teachers. One of the primary focuses of this paper is to provide its reader with the pros and cons
of inclusive education settings and provide information regarding the use of alternative education
settings.
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INCLUSIVE EDUCATION SETTINGS
The Effectiveness of Inclusive Education Settings
There has been a significant shift from special education to inclusive education settings
around the world. After years of longstanding segregation of disabled learners in special schools,
integration into mainstream schools became an option in the early 1980s (Polat, 2011, pg. 1).
Since that time, the history of education has undergone continuous growth in the terms used to
describe the concept of educating students with disabilities in a general education setting
(Hardman et. al. 2011, pg. 54). Some of the most common terms used are mainstreaming, least
restrictive environment, and inclusive education.
In the mainstreaming education, setting students with disabilities were placed in general
education classrooms for some or all of the school day. Mainstreaming quickly fell from favor
when it began placing students with disabilities in general education classed without providing
additional support to save money and limit the number of students who could receive additional
specialized services (Hardman et. al. pg. 54) Though the terms mainstreaming and inclusive
education are often used interchangeably, they are not one in the same. Mainstreaming implies
the physical placement of students with disabilities in the same classrooms or schools as students
without disabilities.
Inclusive education means students with disabilities receive the services and supports
appropriate to their individual needs within the general education settings. Inclusive education
focuses on “pushing services and supports into” the general education setting for both teachers
and students. Inclusion involves the processes of changing values, attitudes, policies and
practices within the education setting and beyond. While inclusion has been used for more than
two decades, the struggle to achieve education for all has been an ongoing struggle for more than
five decades (Polat, 2011, p. 1). The text states that the goal of inclusion was to educate students
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INCLUSIVE EDUCATION SETTINGS
with disabilities alongside their peers without disabilities in a general education class, as a means
to increase their access to, and participation in all natural settings. Inclusive classrooms are said
to promote diversity, acceptance, and belonging for children. The benefits of inclusive education
are vast for both students with and without disabilities. Benefits of inclusion for students with
disabilities include friendships, increased social initiation, relationships and networks, peer role
models for academic, social and behavior skills, increased achievement of IEP goals, greater
access to general curriculum, enhanced inclusion in future environments and list goes on (Wood
et. al. pg. 3). With all those benefits, who wouldn’t want the use of inclusive education settings?
Although inclusion should be the preferred method of placement for students with special
needs whenever possible, there remains much debate on inclusive classrooms and their
effectiveness. Many individual argue that removing a child from a general education classroom
is not necessarily a denial of human rights. Those against inclusive education also argue that
general education does not have the expertise to meet the needs of students with disabilities. And
that general education is overwhelmed with large class sizes and inadequate support systems
(Hardman et. al. pg. 56). For inclusion to be successful there must be a multidisciplinary
collaboration. This requires teachers, parents, students and other professionals working together
to achieve the mutual goal of providing and effective educational program designed to meet the
individual needs of the student.
In IDEA, Section 504, and ADA, it is clear that students with disabilities must be
educated in regular education settings to the maximum extent appropriate in light of their needs,
and prevent their exclusion unless education in a traditional classroom setting cannot be achieved
satisfactorily even with the appropriate supplementary aids and services. Despite individual
legal rights and numerous judicial rulings made on behalf of those with disabilities, students with
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INCLUSIVE EDUCATION SETTINGS
disabilities continue to be isolated and separately educated. The Bible states in Ecclesiastes 9:11,
“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, not the battle to the strong,
neither yet bread to the wise, not yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to
them all”(The Holy Bible). This scripture to me reflects the necessity that we treat all individual
respectively regardless of our differences.
In conclusion I found that inclusion is not limited to the inclusion of those children or
young people with disabilities. Inclusion is inclusion for all regardless of race, ethnicity,
disability, gender, sexual orientation, language, socio-economic status, and any other aspect of an
individual’s identity that might be perceived different.
Inclusive Education 6
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION SETTINGS
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