School Leadership for Students With Disabilities Course Enhancement

School Leadership for Students With Disabilities Course Enhancement Module Anchor Presentation #2 Project #H 325 A 120003

School Leadership Facilitates Inclusive Culture (2 parts) Provides Instructional Leadership Facilitates Collaboration Involves Parents & Community District Leadership Academic & Life Outcomes

What Is Inclusion? Why Is it Important? An overview of inclusion for principals

Objectives • What does inclusion mean to you? • How is inclusion defined? • How often are students with disabilities included in general education classrooms? • What is the basis for inclusion in federal law? • What are qualities of effective inclusive schools?

What Does Inclusion Mean to You? • What do you know about inclusion? • Experiences with people with disabilities who have been included? • Experiences with people with disabilities who have not been excluded?

What Does Inclusion Mean to You? • How do teachers respond to inclusion? o Supportive? o Skeptical? o Negative? • Why do teachers respond to inclusion as they do?

What Does Inclusion Mean to You? • How do principals respond to inclusion? • What influences principal perspectives about inclusion? • What does inclusion mean to you?

What Is Inclusion? • At its core, inclusion is simply about the extent to which we value and support all students in a school. • Inclusion is about belonging, participating, and being supported in ways that offer opportunities for success.

Inclusion Is Defined as. . . Including students with disabilities as valued members of the school community. • Students with disabilities belong to the community and are accepted by others. • Students actively participate in the academic and social communities of the school. • Students are provided supports that give them an opportunity to succeed (Mc. Leskey, Rosenberg, & Westling, 2013).

Thus, Inclusion Is. . . • What everyone wants. • We show that we value students and want them to belong by including them as part of the school community: o In academic activities (i. e. , learning in natural settings with typical peers whenever possible). o In non-academic and social activities (i. e. , participating in convocations, extracurricular activities, lunch, and so forth in natural settings with typical peers whenever possible).

Considerations to Ponder • Students with intellectual disabilities spend far less time in general education classrooms than do most other students with disabilities. • On average, these students spend just more than 40% of the school day in general education classrooms. • More than 50% of students with intellectual disabilities spend most of the day in separate, special education classrooms. • This occurs in spite of research that reveal academic and social benefits for these students when they are included (Freeman & Alkin, 2000).

Considerations to Ponder • Consider for a moment a student with a mild intellectual disability. • It is very difficult for this student to belong or be accepted if he does not participate in academic and social activities with typical peers. • If he is separated from typical peers for much of the school day, he is not being prepared to face the realities of living in the real world. • Inclusion, therefore, offers this student opportunities that are not available in a segregated setting.

Inclusion & Federal Law (IDEA, 2004) • Inclusion is not mandated by federal law (inclusion is not mentioned in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA]). • Inclusion is based on the least restrictive environment (LRE) mandate included in IDEA.

Inclusion & Federal Law (IDEA, 2004) LRE mandate in IDEA (2004) states: To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities. . . are educated with children who are nondisabled; and special classes, separate schooling, or removal from the regular educational environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.

Inclusion & Federal Law (IDEA, 2004) • The LRE mandate, thus, reflects a bias in favor of educating students in general education classrooms. • Primary rationale—research has shown that when inclusion is done well, student academic and social/behavioral outcomes can be improved (Causton & Theoharis, 2014; Hehir & Katzman, 2012). • This is especially important for some groups of students who are often excluded (e. g. , students with intellectual disabilities; Freeman & Alkin, 2000; Williamson, et al. , 2006).

Inclusion in Schools • Inclusion is currently a reality in all public schools in the United States. • The percentage of time students with disabilities spend in general education classrooms has steadily increased—from 58% in 1990 to 65% in 2000. • Currently, students with disabilities spend an average of 71% of the school day in general education classrooms.

Including Samuel Video: Including Samuel (59 minutes)

Including Samuel Discussion Questions • Did this video change the way you think about people with disabilities? If so, how? • Which person’s story had the greatest impact on you? • One of the students in the video who did not have a disability said, “Inclusion benefitted me in a huge way. ” What are some of the benefits of inclusion for all students?

Including Samuel Discussion Questions In the video, Keith Jones said, “You can’t box people up in a room, 20 by 20, eight hours a day, then ship them off into the world and expect them to have social interaction skills. ” Why do adults often separate students with disabilities. What do you think people learn—or do not learn—by being separated?

Including Samuel Discussion Questions • Did you see specific qualities in Barbara O’Brien’s classroom (Samuel’s class) or at Haggerty School (Nathaniel’s school) that allow inclusion to succeed? What are the general qualities or philosophies that can help inclusion succeed? • Do you hear people use variations on the word retarded as an insult? Is this OK? Why is the language we use important?

If a School Is Truly Effective, It Must Also Be Effective • In inclusive schools, all students are valued and supported as active members of the school community. • In inclusive schools, teachers and other professional staff have high expectations for all students. • In inclusive schools, all students are provided with effective instruction. • To be truly inclusive, schools must also be effective • Inclusive schools are, thus, both effective and inclusive.

What Are the Qualities of Effective Inclusive Schools? • School staff work collaboratively to provide supports to all students: o No one knows how to meet the needs of all students. o Teachers and other school professionals share responsibility for all students. o Teachers and other school professionals share expertise in meeting the needs of all students. o School staff work as part of a professional learning community (PLC) to develop expertise and meet the needs of all students.

What Are the Qualities of Effective Inclusive Schools? • School staff provide comprehensive and ongoing support to meet the needs of all students; o Changes in beliefs—all students can learn. o Alterations in curriculum, instruction, school organization, teacher roles. o Recognition that meeting the needs of all students is a never-ending process.

What Are the Qualities of Effective Inclusive Schools? • Students are educated in natural settings that are highly effective in meeting their needs; o School personnel actively seek to support the participation of students with disabilities in all school activities. o Most students with disabilities spend most of the school day in general education classrooms. o Students with disabilities are educated in separate settings only to deliver high-quality, intensive instruction to small groups of students with similar needs.

What Are the Qualities of Effective Inclusive Schools? • Students with disabilities are valued members of all classrooms and the school community; o All students are accepted and respected by adults and other students. o Diversity is valued, appreciated, and celebrated. o Student differences are perceived as an ordinary and typical part of the school day. o Supports are offered whenever possible as an ordinary and typical part of the school day.

Conclusion • Have you seen schools that have these qualities? • Are the qualities of effective inclusive schools the same as the qualities of any excellent school? Explain. • How are effective inclusive schools developed? • What is the role of the principal in developing an effective inclusive school?

References Causton, J. , & Theoharis, G. (2014). The principal’s handbook for leading inclusive schools. Baltimore, MD: Brookes. Freeman, S. , & Alkin, M. (2000). Academic and social attainments of children with mental retardation in general education and special education settings. Remedial and Special Education, 21(1), 3 -18. Hehir, T. , & Katzman, L. (2012). Effective inclusive schools: Designing successful schoolwide programs. Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass. Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, 20 U. S. C. § 1400 (2004). Mc. Leskey, J. , Rosenberg, M. , & Westling, D. (2013). Inclusion: Effective practices for all students. Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Mc. Leskey, J. , & Waldron, N. (2011). Educational programs for elementary students with learning disabilities: Can they be both effective and inclusive? Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 26(1), 48 -57.

References Mc. Leskey, J. , Waldron, N. , & Redd, L. (2014). A case study of a highly effective, inclusive elementary school. The Journal of Special Education, 48(1), 59 -70. Mc. Leskey, J. , Waldron, N. L. , Spooner, F. , & Algozzine, B. (2014). What are effective inclusive schools and why are they important? In J. Mc. Leskey, N. L. Waldron, F. Spooner, & B. Algozzine (Eds. ). Handbook of effective inclusive schools: Research and practice (pp. 3 -16). New York, NY: Routledge. Ryndak, D. , Jackson, L. , & Billingsley, F. (2000). Defining school inclusion for students with moderate to severe disabilities: What do experts say? Exceptionality, 8(2), 101 -116. U. S. Department of Education. (2013). Thirty-second annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Washington, DC: Author. Williamson, P. , Mc. Leskey, J. , Hoppey, D. , & Rentz, T. (2006). Educating students with mental retardation in general education classrooms: An analysis on national and state trends. Exceptional Children, 72(3), 347 -361.