According to the author, the findings of this study demonstrated the importance of principals' attitudes in the inclusion of students with disabilities and three basic areas related to attitudes toward inclusion required further research and attention: Factors related to placement perceptions; Role of experience with students with disabilities; and, The types of training used in inclusive practices, with more inclusion training generally being needed for principals (Praisner, 2000). Yet another recent study by Henricsson and Rydell (2004) examined teacher-student relations and children's self-perception among second- and third-grade pupils who were identified as being problematic in grade one and who were subsequently offered inclusive programs; the authors report that an important issue in the study was the role of actual teacher-student interactions in children's and teachers' perceptions of the relationship and in the child's self-perception (Henricsson & Rydell, 2004)
5). Today, middle school and high school teachers must understand how to best teach all such students how to read, write, communicate, and achieve to the highest educational standards (Heumann, 1999)
A study by Hoover and Patton (2005) found that instructional programs for the nation's approximately 350,000 special education second-language learners in grades K. To 12 must be better aligned to state standards to ensure that all students have equal access to the implementation and assessment of mandated curricula; these authors also emphasize that there is a critical need to use more authentic assessment and to differentiate curriculum to address cultural and linguistic diversity in education for all students today (Hoover & Patton, 2005)
36). During this period, the laws concerning whether students with disabilities should be educated within the public schools was left to the discretion of the states and their local school districts; while some public school districts managed to provide exceptional services to special needs students at this time, it is clear that others did not: "Indeed, as recently as 1973, perhaps as many as one million students were denied enrollment in public schools solely on the basis of their disability" (Horn & Tynan, 2001, p
153). Instead of replacing one curriculum for another, though, the inclusion of disadvantaged students will require a careful assessment as to whether special education is sufficiently robust to allow these students to gain the life skills they will need to succeed and whether this curriculum fits into the scope and sequence of the general education curriculum (Jackson & Kozleski, 1993)
In fact, today, American public schools are attempting to provide quality educational services for a more heterogeneous population than ever before in its history (Mcgregor & Salisbury, 2002). In fact, fully 35% of American schoolchildren are members of minority group; 20% of this country's children live in poverty, and the same proportion of children live in households headed by an immigrant (Klick, 2000)
348) recent study by Marshall, Martin, and Sale (2004) provides some useful insights for high school teachers seeking improved approaches to delivering quality educational services to special needs students and helping them make the transition from a special needs middle school setting to the high school regular classroom setting. According to these researchers, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142) established that individualized education programs (IEPs) guide the educational experience of public school students with disabilities (Marshall et al
In this regard, Mcdermott and Mcdermott (2002) point out that there are three dangers associated with strict requirements for high school exit exams as they apply to special needs students: Special education students will leave school early, since there is no reward in sight for them if they stay in school. "This danger means that they might remove themselves from school and so miss any chance to achieve the other good outcomes of schooling that are not measured by a test of the three R's" (Mcdermott & Mcdermott, 2002, p
135). Not surprisingly, this alternative approach to providing disadvantaged students with improved opportunities for learning has created a wide range of challenges for many education professionals and policaymakers alike today (Praisner, 2003)
keeping special education students in regular education classrooms and bringing support services to the child, rather than bringing the child to the support services. In an inclusionary setting, special education teachers work with regular education teachers in regular classrooms" (Rasch et al
In addition, the common parental history of limited participation and the timing and format of teacher-parent meetings made these conferences logistically problematic or intimidating to many parents of special needs students (Fine & Gardner, 1994). Thereafter during the late 1970s and 1980s, there was a gradual increase in the number of students with minor learning disabilities that were retained in regular public school classrooms (Westwood, 1997)
Partial inclusion refers to when a student partakes in the general education setting for part of the day but receives the bulk of their academic instruction in a resource room. Due to the severity of some student's disabilities, they may be assigned to a self-contained classroom in where they will spend at least 60% of their school day working directly with the special education staff (Cortiella, 2009)
At the present time, the idea of integrated education is one of the most widely discussed issues, in the pages of specialized publications, and among specialists who are involved in the teaching and upbringing of children with impaired development, and in the mass schools and special schools. Integration is seen as a way to enable a child with limited health abilities to attend a general education school with ordinary children (Godovnikova, 2009)
The passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975), along with the Individual with Disabilities Education Act Amendment of 1997, federal mandates have all but guaranteed a free and appropriate education for all students attending public institutions regardless of their specific academic deficiencies. This federal legislation, along with various state requirements, has required that all children have access to a free and appropriate public education, and that every effort is made to insure their academic success (Pickard, 2009)
Supporters of inclusion argue for the abolition of special schools as a means of promoting the rights of disabled children to be fully included in society. Defenders of special schools present a case based on the superiority of a system which offers protected time and space for children, supported by smaller class sizes and practitioners with particular expertise (Read and Walmsley, 2006)
Dist v. Andrew Ordway, a ruling given in California in 2002, the judge ruled that a school administrator was personally liable under the Civil Rights act for interfering with a mother's attempt to get FAPE for her son (Wright & Wright, 2005)
Such rulings make it clear that personnel, schools and districts must be diligent about complying with federal special education regulations. The three sets of laws -- IDEA, 504, and ADA, certainly create a complex web of rues, parents have considerable rights, including making a formal complaint to the Office of Civil Rights (Zirkel, 2000)
.balance concerns of parents of regular and special education kids with teacher training and promoting collaboration" (Crockett & Kauffman, 1999, p
Seeman asserts that this burnout should addressed by organizational change rather than personal coping. (Seeman, 1959, 1975) Methodology There has been considerable research and attention nationwide focused upon the issue of teacher shortages, burnout and substandard working conditions for teachers
Seeman asserts that this burnout should addressed by organizational change rather than personal coping. (Seeman, 1959, 1975) Methodology There has been considerable research and attention nationwide focused upon the issue of teacher shortages, burnout and substandard working conditions for teachers