This newsletter theme issue focuses on issues in including students with disabilities in regular education. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act calls for students to be placed in the least restrictive environment, which is presumed by some educators to be the regular classroom. The drawbacks of separate programs are not felt to be…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of the Whole Schooling Research Project, a collaborative, qualitative study of inclusive education and its relationship with exemplary teaching and schooling practices in 16 schools in Michigan and Wisconsin from 1998 through 2002. The study focused on the application of five principles of…

This annotated bibliography lists 19 publications to help educators more effectively include students with disabilities in general education classrooms. The publications, including books, journal articles, videotapes, and reports, are dated from 1993 through 1999, and most are available through the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center)…

Discussion of special education at the turn of the century raises concerns about the abandonment of core values and professional responsibility (as in the emphasis on general rather than special education), adoption of methodologies (such as co-teaching) without any evidence of effectiveness, and a "one size fits all" approach (inclusion of…

This article presents reconstructionism (the process of critique and reformulation of practice) as a useful way to design curriculum in inclusive schools. Theoretical foundations and the use of learner-centered, process-oriented, and communication-based instructional approaches are proposed as promising practices in curriculum design for diverse…

This paper explores the premise that children with mental and/or physical disabilities should be included in regular education programs whenever possible. Instructional strategies for successful inclusion are discussed and the need for parental and community involvement emphasized. The paper reviews the theory of inclusion; features of the…

This article offers an approach to providing integrated education for students with disabilities by effectively involving major stakeholders (building-level administrators, general education staff, special education staff, and students). A matrix displays categories of support (beliefs/values, content, methods, and adult-adult interactions) for…

This article on inclusive education proposes a continuum of "explicit" to "implicit" instructional approaches, which expresses a range of amounts of teacher assistance provided and levels of expected student responsibility for learning. Research on such a continuum is reviewed and implications are drawn for instructional design in reading and…

Special education is under fire from full inclusionists who advocate for children with severe mental retardation and who contend that special education settings are immoral dumping grounds for children deemed "unteachable." Other advocates of inclusion focus on the invalidity of disability categories, tests, and instructional services which, in…

This pamphlet provides an overview of the philosophical, legal, and research bases of responsible inclusion of students with disabilities in regular classes. Educators are urged to not disregard the continuum of service placement, which is legally required, but to recognize that most students with disabilities can be educated in regular classes in…

This annotated bibliography provides a listing of approximately 75 journal articles, reports, teaching models, symposia proceedings, monographs, and videotape recordings on inclusion of students with disabilities in regular education settings. The listing is organized by subject categories, including case studies, checklists, early childhood,…

This paper reports on a multiple case study of building administrators in a suburban school district in Oklahoma which implemented a unitary system of inclusion of students with disabilities in age-appropriate regular classrooms. The study focused particularly on how administrators developed shared meanings during the change process. Data were…

Emphasizing the constructivist principles of voice, collaboration, and inclusion, this paper discusses the influence of constructivism across the interrelated levels of reform: structural reforms in school organization, pedagogical reforms in classrooms, and development of school-linked human service systems. It concludes with a political-economic…

Thirty-seven leading educators participated in a Delphi technique survey regarding future directions in education of students with disabilities, focusing on inclusion and integration, labeling and classification, personnel preparation, instruction and services, and research. Respondents predicted that increasing inclusion will occur, and teachers…

This document reports on the design, purpose, implementation, and outcomes of a policy forum entitled "Inclusion and the Role of Special Education in Restructuring: Focus on Language Minority Students" held in September 1994. Participants included representatives from the research and public school communities as well as from relevant offices of…