The document outlines a vision for inclusive education, emphasizing the need for neighborhood schools to welcome all students, including those with disabilities, and promote meaningful participation and social relationships. It identifies barriers to collaboration among educators, such as resistance to change and lack of training, and highlights the importance of administrative support and systemic planning for successful inclusion. Research indicates that inclusive education leads to improved academic outcomes, social skills, and community involvement for both students with and without disabilities.

1. Developing Inclusive Education
Carol Quirk
cquirk@mcie.org

2. Vision
A society where
neighborhood schools
welcome all
students, engage them in
learning, and form the
foundation for inclusive
communities.
Neighborhood schools
where students with
disabilities benefit from
meaningful
instruction, have
friends, and be full
members of their school
Keep your feet on the ground
while dreaming with your
head in the clouds

3. “Inclusion” is not
“Placement”
Physical Access
to
ENVIRONMENTS
Meaningful
ACADEMIC
participation
Positive SOCIAL
RELATIONSHIPS
INCLUSIO
N

4. Academic Instruction
• General Curriculum
• Accommodations
• Modifications
• Embedded Skills
Universal Design
Differentiated Instruction
Interventions
Specialized
Instruction

5. Membership
7

6. Social
Relationships
People with strong social
interaction skills typically
experience …
• More meaningful relationships
• Greater happiness
• Greater self-esteem
• Greater social acceptance
• Greater desire to socialize
• Less anxiety, stress, depression

7. Inclusive Education means…
• Natural Proportions
• No “Inclusion” classes
• Participation
Active
Meaningful
WITH PEERS
• Also outside of school
activities
NOT “Inclusion”

8. Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education
The extent of a school’s success will
be directly related
to the extent that the school has
moved toward
a collaborative model
across school teams.

9. CHANGE: a grown-up problem
Who
• is responsible?
• decides what to teach?
• makes modifications?
What if one of the collaborating teachers does not:
Use differentiated lesson planning based on UDL
Use positive and preventive approach to problem
behavior
Want to collaborate?

10. Collaboration

11. BARRIERS
• Staff Resistance: shared ownership/responsibility issues, different
philosophy, lack of knowledge about current & effective practices.
Especially re:students with significant needs and behavior issues
• Parental understanding of the benefits of receiving special
education services in general education classes/accessing
curriculum
• Knowledge/skill: Lack of understanding how to implement co-
teaching and collaboration and differentiated lesson planning
• Limited collaborative planning time

12. BARRIERS
• Role of paraeducators and issues related to supervision and
duties
• Case management caseload
• Quality general education instruction: lack of differentiation
and quality strategies
• Need for grading policies & procedures for students with
disabilities particularly when not performing at grade level
• Administrator resistance to change
• Scheduling practices: Need to change how staff and students are
assigned & time is found

13. What makes the difference in
District planning?
• General Ed Leadership: Superintendent
• Steering Committee
• General Education & Special Education Supervisors
• Action Planning Process
• System-wide professional development
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Clarify and Communicate the VISION

14. What makes the difference in
School planning?
• Administrative support
• Needs Assessments (survey and group process)
• School based teams to plan inclusive practices
• Action Plans and focused planning team
• Technical Assistance/Job-embedded staff development
• Reinforcing the need for regular collaborative planning for
students who are challenging academically or behaviorally
• Articulation planning at the end of the school year
• 15% guideline to maintain natural proportions of students
with IEPs in general education classes

15. School Structures
• Collaborative planning (TIME)
• Collaborative planning (PRACTICES)
• Differentiated Instruction (DI) with a curriculum based on
principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
• Multi-tierred Systems of Support (MTSS) for academic and
behavioral strategies and interventions
• Interventions that are based on evidence of effectiveness
• Shared roles and responsibilities
Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education

16. Teacher Preparation Needs
Universal Design for Learning
Differentiation
Interventions
Accommodations
Collaboration
Positive Behavior Supports
Classroom Management
GENERAL EDUCATORS
Instructional Technology
Cooperative Learning
Content skills
SPECIAL EDUCATORS
Assistive Technology
Autism
IEP development
11

17. Research: what does it say?
How does inclusive education affect
children with disabilities AND
children without disabilities??

18. Students with Disabilities
• Spend more time “on task” in class
• Learn more academic skills
• Have more friends
• Learn more “functional” skills
• More likely to be employed after school
• Supports are more individualized

19. Comparing Classrooms
Special Education Classes
• Less instructional time
• More isolation
• Less able to get a job after
school
• 58% of the time = “non-
instructional”
General Education Classes
• MORE general curriculum
content
• More individualized
instruction time
• More interactions with non-
disabled peers
• 35% of the time = “non-
instructional”

20. 79%
21%
Special Education
Students
Who
Graduated
Students
who
Dropped
Out
94%
6%
General Education
Students
Who
Graduated
Students
who
Dropped
Out
Graduation and Drop out

21. Planning for an Inclusive
Future
Work
School
Services

22. Normalization
a normal rhythm to the day and year
a normal routine to life
the normal developmental experiences of the life cycle
having one’s choices, wishes and desires taken into
consideration and respected
normal economic standards
standards of facilities similar to those experienced by
others

23. Community Participation
• By being educated with nondisabled
peers, people with disabilities will be more
likely to become involved in and valued by
their communities.

24. Self-Determination
• Strategies that enable students to regulate
their own behavior, set their own
goals, monitor their own performance, and
identify solutions to current problems.

25. Natural Peer Supports
• Teachers and peers can provide
accommodations to reduce reliance on
additional adult support.

26. Community Awareness and Public
Relations
• Informing and involving the community of
service providers, businesses, and employers
leads to positive attitudes toward integrating
people with disabilities into the community
and workplace in the future

27. Inclusion in General Education
Instruction
• More time spent in school and class with
nondisabled peers leads to better outcomes
for learning during school years and
employment after school.

28. Community Collaboration
and Shared Responsibility
• When students and their families take active
roles in determining educational goals, the
school and other service providers can plan
instruction and functional life skills activities.

29. Presuming Competence
• Schools and families make the LEAST
DANGEROUS ASSUMPTION when they have
high expectations and assume that the
student is learning (even when they are not
sure!)

30. Current Practices
• What are the traditional practices?
–WHERE children with disabilities go to
school
–What they are taught (same or
different)

31. Beliefs about Inclusion
Should Students with Disabilities be placed in
regular classes with nondisabled children?
NO/none some/sometimes YES/All
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

32. Your Preparation
How prepared were you to teach and include
children with disabilities as a professional?
NOT at all some preparation YES/very
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

33. Your Experience
How much experience do you have at teaching
children with disabilities in regular classes?
NONE a few students Many students
NONE a few years Many years
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

34. What do we need to do next?
Put one idea on each paper

35. THANK YOU!
Inclusive
Education
for ALL
Children!