Running Head: THE INCLUSION CLASSROOM

The Inclusion Classroom

Pamela Saxon King
University of St. Thomas

THE INCLUSION CLASSROOM

1975 saw life-changing events in many aspects of our lives. In United States politics,
Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell & Mardian, were convicted of Watergate crimes and U.S.
citizens began evacuating from Vietnam, ending involvement in the war. And on Nov 20th Ronald
Reagan announces candidacy for Republican nomination for US President. In world
politics, Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for leadership of the British Conservative Party.
In the technology world, Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
On television,Wheel of Fortune debuted on NBC. On the education front, Congress passed the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which guaranteed the employment and educational rights of people
with disabilities. Then with the passage of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
in 1975, every school district was mandated to provide a free education to all students, including
students with disabilities, in the least restrictive environment (LRE), which meant the general
education classroom. With IDEA, the concept of inclusion was born.
So what is inclusion? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines inclusion as the act or
practice of including students with disabilities in regular school classes. What this means is that,
if someone were to observe a general education classroom, they would witness students with
physical and/or developmental disabilities being educated alongside their non-disabled peers. It
has really only been since 2004 that inclusion, by this definition, has taken place. While there is a
great deal of research on its effectiveness, there is not enough long term research to adequately
show the outcomes. This paper will discuss the positive outcomes from inclusion, the negative
outcomes from inclusion, and three inclusive classroom models.
When inclusion is done properly and with the correct supports in place, disabled and nondisabled students benefit. Some of the benefits for students with disabilities are an increased
achievement on IEP goals, working toward higher expectations, and greater access to the general
education curriculum. Parents also become more involved in their childs school and community.

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By being in a general education setting, students become engaged in activities they might not
otherwise have an opportunity to be a part of. For example, performances and field trips are more
readily accessible, and in turn, parents have the opportunity to participate as well through
volunteering and chaperoning. In this way, families of students with special needs do not feel so
isolated. Instead, they too feel included. Perhaps the biggest benefit, is the peer role modeling of
academic, social and behavior skills. When a student with a disability is able to see non-disabled
peers functioning in the lunchroom, at P.E., during Science time, and working in small groups,
they gain a more realistic perspective of how to function amongst their peers and in a social
setting. Instead of seeing non-preferred behavior all day, they see preferred behavior.
For the students without disabilities, they are able to better grasp concepts since teachers
will break down information into smaller pieces for their disabled peers. Most importantly, these
students learn tolerance and acceptance. Before, students with disabilities were locked away in
another room or at another school and perceived as odd and retarded. But through inclusion,
students see that they are no different than anyone else. That they arent stupid, they arent odd,
and are capable of success.
General Education teachers and Special Education teachers both have concerns about full
inclusion. At this time, general education teachers are not properly trained to teach their students
with disabilities. They rely on special education teachers to take care of the majority of the
responsibility. As a result, much time is spent simply trying to manage. In this way, disabled and
non-disabled students suffer. Special education teachers worry that services for their students
actually become diluted, because they are no longer receiving instruction from people trained to
teach them and who do not understand why they are required to alter instruction. This is definitely
a disadvantage of inclusion. Parents of these students are also concerned about the exact same
thing. After fighting so long and hard to attain the correct and appropriate services and instruction

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for their children, inclusion can be seen as a step backward for all the reasons stated above. The
pace and degree of difficulty of material and concepts is much greater than when IDEA was
passed in 1975. Special education students need greater repetition for understanding and
classroom teachers simply do not have the time to do this. With a push to include all students all
the time, a disservice might actually be being done to these children. In an effort to provide the
LRE, a system has been put in place that actually prevents it from working, and students can
spend years not learning and not getting what they need.
Wesley Sharpe, Ed.D, in his article for Special Education World, Special Education
Inclusion: Making It Work (Part 2) (2016), he provides three classroom models for successful
inclusion practices. The first of these is the consultant model. This model is best suited for schools
with a low incidence of special-needs children and a small overall enrollment. The special
education teacher is available to teach special education students challenging skills and concepts
and provides special-needs children with two teachers to help with grade level content. The next
model is teaming. It promotes cooperative planning and teaching. A special education teacher is
assigned to a grade level team, and general and special education teachers work together to
present the same material to all students in the classroom. The special education teacher provides
student information, possible instructional strategies, and modification ideas for assignments and
tests, as well as behavior strategies. The third model Sharpe presents is collaborative co-teaching.
Both teachers, special education and general education, share the responsibility of teaching in this
model. The class might be split into groups or one teacher might lead an additional activity while
the other works with other students on a specific goal or objective. In this model, students receive
the support and modified instruction they need.
In this paper, the benefits of inclusion, the weaknesses of inclusion, and three different
models for an inclusive classroom have been discussed. The idea of inclusion is still relatively new

THE INCLUSION CLASSROOM

and schools are trying to find the perfect formula for making it work. While more research needs
to be done, educators believe that providing students with the LRE benefits all students and their
families. While there are definitely obstacles to overcome and downsides to the practice, there are
many benefits. Perhaps in the not so distant future, we will find the perfect formula.

Works Cited
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2004. Print.
"Special Education Inclusion: (Part 2)." Education World:. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.