There are millions of students with disabilities in school communities nationwide. The need for teachers and administrators to forge professional partnerships that promote successful learning environments is vital. Students under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) laws have IEPs (Individualized Education Program) that contain copious data on academic performance, behavioral expectations, and transition planning beyond high school. How that data has been translated into student educational access includes a whole school approach to inclusion.
At a middle school in the North East Independent School District, 13% of its students are eligible for special education services and 0% of those students are in self-contained classrooms. All of the students are mainstreamed and provided with the rigor and challenge of academic courses. Students with IEPs indicating the need for additional academic support, are provided with course content tutoring and special services. If behavior is a goal of the IEP for continued inclusion in mainstream courses, behavioral support is provided in the guise of behavioral contracts specific to the behavior. If reading literacy is an academic goal for students, reading skills are addressed and assessed by both teachers in the classroom.
Professional development begins with the inclusion of special education teachers working with mainstream students in regular classrooms. Special education teachers are able to modify curriculum to provide academic access. They are able to support behavioral contracts by directly addressing students who are off task or charting data on behavioral distractions in the classroom. The pairing of both teachers also allows them to create smaller learning environments and provided individualized instruction to all students in each respective group. According to data generated from teachers at the middle school, special education students have increased test scores and reading literacy, along with similar increases experienced by regular students. In the North East Independent School District, middle school students with disabilities are not isolated, but included as a whole school approach to education.