Providing all students with equity, equality, and excellence in education is a tall but necessary order if you want to close the achievement gap between students with and those without disabilities. We must go beyond equality in education by consistently examining our practices and actions to ensure that all our students have everything they need to be successful. For the last 25 years, we have failed our students with disabilities by providing the bare minimum and in doing so we are reaping that which we have sown. Students with disabilities have made minimal academic progress in both reading and math. Only 11% of 8th grade students with disabilities are proficient readers and only 8% are proficient in math according to the US Department of Education. IT IS TIME TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT! What we have done in the last 50 years is not working. Why are we stuck? There can only be two logical answers to this question. Either we as a community of educators don’t understand the seriousness of our current educational system or we simply don’t care. 

Equality versus Equity

Equity goes beyond equality; it requires educational leaders to examine the ways current policies and practices result in disparate outcomes for our students of color, students living in poverty, students receiving special education and English language learners, students who identify as LGBTQ+, and highly mobile student populations. Equal and equitable opportunities to learn and meaningfully participate in the general education classroom setting are essential for improving performance on assessments, graduation outcomes, and closing achievement gaps. This is not rocket science folks! If a student has a disability that interferes with their ability to make progress in the general education curriculum, putting them in a classroom without needed support to remove or go around barriers to learning is not inclusion. Yes they are “included" but they lack the support and resources needed to make progress. Equity is giving students what they need and various types of support so they can take advantage of learning opportunities and meet the goals established in their IEP. Equitable access for students with disabilities depends upon providing appropriate support, and all educators working collaboratively to develop thoughtful strategies and create appropriate adaptations to ensure student success. Equality, on the other hand, is when all students have the same or equal opportunities to learn content standards and participation in the general education classroom. Equity means all students have the support and resources they need to benefit from equal opportunities to learn and participate in all aspects of school. 

Inclusive Teaching Partnerships

It is IMPOSSIBLE to accomplish effective inclusion by yourself whether you are a special education or general education teacher; you cannot accomplish this by yourself! Closing the achievement requires effective instruction and appropriate support through the partnership between a special education teacher and general education teacher. Each teacher plays a specific role in creating a student-centered and engaging learning environment where all students learn together in groups, using age-appropriate communication, socialization, and cultural norms. Authentic inclusive practices require reimagining the relationship between general and special education teachers, recognizing the interdependence needed to close the achievement gap for students with disabilities. 

General Education Teacher Role in Inclusion

The first thing a general education student needs to do is ask themselves, “Is there anything I am doing or failing to do that is hindering all students in my class from receiving the learning opportunities they need and deserve in my class?” General education teachers need to question their motives and the state of the ego constantly. If all is well let us proceed but if there are some issues that need resolving let’s get that straight. Many of my readers feel I'm always coming for the general education teachers but I am not; just trying to hold everyone’s “feet to the fire,” and I know general education teachers can hinder inclusion because there are some who won’t relinquish control and want to do all the things. As I stated previously, no matter how awesome you are, inclusion cannot happen in isolation; it's a collaborative endeavor.  General educators, you are experts in academic content and providing quality core instruction for everyone in the general education classroom setting. Opportunities for inclusive learning depend on you and the special education teacher’s shared vision, the inclusive school culture you both create together, and your consistent examination of barriers in mindsets and instructional practices. There can be no meaningful participation and access to learning for all students without a commitment to practicing full inclusion from you both. General education teachers, you cannot go wrong with universal design for learning (UDL) because it is best practices and an evidence based approach to teaching all students including those with disabilities. Another evidence based practice that is highly recommended is differentiated instruction (DI). When you and your teaching partner design and deliver instruction using UDL and DI, there will be a significant decrease in the need for specially designed instruction for students with disabilities because many learning barriers are addressed using these teaching approaches. 

Special Education Teacher Role in Inclusion

Special education services are provided to students who are eligible under one or more of the 13 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) disability categories. Every student with a disability will experience different types of barriers and have different strengths and academic needs. Special education teachers need to understand learner variability and factors that influence the learning process for each student.  Teachers recognize that student learning challenges have nothing to do with the student but with the design of instruction. So, what do we do? Well we design something else, not throw our hands up and say, “they just can’t learn,” “they are just so low,” “they need to be in a more restrictive environment,” or my favorite, “they just can't get it.” You just have to keep trying until you find something that works. There are infinitely many strategies, resources, and approaches you can implement to meet the learning needs of your students. When students are experiencing learning challenges, assuming they are defective or they are lacking, causing us to lower our expectations of them.  Instead, we must go back to the drawing board and find what will work for students to reach their fullest potential; that is Specially Designed Instruction (SDI). There are many special educators who are unfamiliar with SDI which is confusing since the definition of special education is adapting as appropriate to the unique learning needs of a qualified child, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction. The priority for special education teachers should be SDI; it is what makes special education…special!

Presuming Competence

Presuming competence means making the least dangerous assumption about what a student with disabilities are capable of learning and accomplishing in school instead of viewing student learning challenges or the inability to meet the learning objective as a deficit, they understand factors affecting what students learn and how they can demonstrate what they know. The following are assumptions of presumed competence:

• Intelligence is not a single measurable characteristic.

• All students have different talents and skills.

• Students learn best when they feel valued and when people hold high expectations for them.

Teaching students with a wide range of disabilities is a process that starts with evidence-based practices, strategies, and practices designed through collaborative planning and active progress monitoring. 

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) legislation in the United States guarantees equal rights in public education for students with disabilities through age twenty-one. It was inspired by the civil rights movement and goes beyond  Section 504 civil rights protections from discrimination. IDEA regulates federally funded mandates that support a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for students whose disability adversely impacts the ability to benefit from general education to learn and participate in school. IDEA was initiated in 1975 as P.L.94-142 and reauthorized based on input from families, professionals, and court rulings. A free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment is the right of every child with a disability; let’s act like we know and do our part in promoting and supporting inclusive instructional practices to improve teaching and learning for all students.