Dr. Quirk, also highlighted four components of inclusive education.
What Is Inclusive Education?
1. Place
Where is the place where we have separate locations, only for children with disabilities? It's only in our schools.
We don't have separate places of worship, grocery stores, banks, restaurants, libraries, etc. in our communities. And yet we continue to segregate students in our schools if they have a disability.
In order for all students to be included we need to realize that only being in the same school building is not inclusion.
And we also know that merely being present in a general education class is not inclusive education. What other aspects do we need to consider?
2. Membership/Sense of Belonging
Students can be a member of a general education class and still not have a sense of belonging. Dr. Carol Quirk reminds us,
"With membership, a sense of belonging is not automatic. That is going to be reflected by a how you are valued by the adults, how you are spoken to in age appropriate language, how you are communicated with by peers. So a sense of belonging will result from how you are treated, the language that's used to name you, name where you go, and the extent to which
you're expected to be a part of the community like everybody else."
In the book, The Beyond Access Model, Cheryl Jorgensen, Michael McSheehan and Rae Sonnenmeier give examples of student membership in the general education classroom:
*student attends neighborhood school and is in age appropriate general education classrooms
*student's name is on all class lists, classroom job lists
*student uses same materials as students without disabilities with any needed accommodations or adaptations
*student arrives and leaves class at the same time
*student has locker or cubby beside students without disabilities
*student rides same school bus as others
Here are other indicators of membership:
*student arrives at school at same time as others and participates in homeroom activities
*student has a desk next to other students
*student is included in field trips, assemblies, after school clubs
*student is included in cooperative learning groups
*student receives same class notes, school announcements to take home
As we know, students can physically be in a general education class, feel valued, have a sense of belonging and that doesn't necessarily mean they are actively participating in the lessons and activities.
3. Participation
What can meaningful academic and social participation look like in general education classrooms? Disabled students can engage in the same types of instructional and social routines as others.
Students can be brainstorming, answering questions, taking notes, contributing to cooperative learning groups, sharing information and ideas, working on independent work, eating together in the lunchroom, playing with each other on the playground, and much more.
Using the lens of participation, Jorgensen, McSheehan and Sonnenmeier suggest a five-step framework to plan for full participation of all students.
1. Identify the subject area and specific skill being taught.
2. Identify what students without disabilities do to show they are engaged
3. Identify how the marginalized student can show the same or similar engagement behaviors
4. Identify and provide needed supports for the student
5. Look at what planning needs to be done by the adults
We know participation does not always lead to learning.
4. Learning
A key aspect of learning is for the staff to presume competence. When educators use the framework of Universal Design for Learning,
there are a variety of ways students can be presented with new concepts and skills, multiple ways for them to demonstrate their learning, and a variety of ways to be engaged in the learning activities.
Educators and families may need to be reminded that IEP Goals are not the student's curriculum. The purpose of a student's IEP goals is so the student can have access to, participate in and make progress in the general education curriculum.
Dr. Quirk shared a resource from the Virginia Department of Education and George Mason University – Bridging for Math Strength. Click here to see the tool and how to use it. This resource can
help educators look at the student's strengths in math, examine the grade level content standard and determine a "bridge" from what the child knows to how they can make progress toward grade level standards.
A myth that Dr. Carol Quirk dispelled was, Special Educators have to be the ones to deliver the minutes
of specially designed instruction on the IEP. Not true.
When the special educator is collaborating with the general educator, training and supervising a paraprofessional, working alongside a speech language pathologist, any of those people in that collaboration can deliver the specially designed instruction.
A book recommended by Dr. Quirk is, Specially Designed Instruction: Increasing Success For Students With
Disabilities by Anne M. Beninghol.
The Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education's website has many valuable resources for educators and families. You'll be pleased to see all the helpful information and guides available.
Click here to access the resources.
Our school districts do not have to re-invent the wheel of change.
We have many resources, evidenced-based practices, and examples of successfully including students who have otherwise been marginalized.
Let's capitalize on what we know and keep working to create sustainable change in every school district. Our students deserve to be fully participating members of general education classrooms and learning beside their classmates!
