Inclusive Classrooms: From Access to Engagement. Occasional Papers 28

What would schools and classrooms look like if they truly mirrored our democratic ideals? In this issue of the Occasional Papers, five authors explore current and historical questions related to the inclusion of children with disabilities in public schools. The history of educating children with disabilities--an ongoing civil rights issue--has progressed over the decades from exclusion, to segregation, to access, towards a vision of inclusion that is yet to be universally realized. Too often in the currently polarized educational climate, the debate on inclusion is reduced to questions of funding, improving students' performance on standardized tests, or simply does not occur at all (very little has been written, for example, on the implications of value added assessments for teachers in co-taught classrooms). Inclusion, however, is an ethic not a place, service, or "outcome." The contributors to this volume explore the meaning of inclusion from a range of more nuanced perspectives. They tackle themes related to historical progress, access and collaboration, and take a close look in particular at the complex and changing relationship of general and special educators. The contributors offer exemplary models, surface critical questions, and identify enduring challenges. An introduction by Valentine Burr is followed by individual essays: (1) Inclusion: What Came Before (Judith Lesch); (2) Doing the Civil Right Thing Supporting Children with Disabilities in Inclusive Classrooms (David J. Connor and Kristen Goldmansour); (3) Overcoming Barriers to Co-teaching (Seamus O'Connor); and (4) From Access to Interaction: Prioritizing Opportunities for Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Development for Children with Physical Disabilities in Inclusive Classrooms (Daniel Atkins). Individual essays contain references and figures.