Systems Shifts for Inclusive Education

[MUSIC PLAYING] So there are some important attitude and-- I would say attitude, practice, and systemic or systems-level things that need to change to support people and students as they move into inclusive classrooms. Attitudes are presuming students' competence, believing that all students have a right to belong in the mainstream of school life-- the attitude of, if it doesn't work the first time, it's not the students fault, but we just need to try a different way. The practices that need to change are num-- and these are also interrelated with systems. It takes a team. It takes a collaborative team to make inclusion work. It is not the sole responsibility of the gen ed teacher. It's not the sole responsibility of the special ed teacher or the parent educator. It takes the team to plan for what the students' inclusion participation is going to look like and a team to implement the supports that the student needs in order to be successful. Another practice shift that needs to happen is from viewing curriculum instruction as just meeting the middle group within the class and a shift towards more universal design for learning and differentiated instruction, so that within one lesson, within one unit, teachers provide a variety of ways for children to access information, whether it's by reading it, by listening to it, by seeing examples of the knowledge in graphic or pictorial form-- a variety of ways for students to interact with one another and with that information and a variety of ways for students to show what they know. Third practice can be as challenging as the attitudinal shift. And that is the practice of special educators and related service providers coming into the general classroom to provide their services and support. Systemically, the change that needs to shift is the principal of the school needs to make it clear through her words, through her writing, through her supervision, and through every interaction she has with the school and with the community that we are an inclusive school. And here's what it means.