Tensions exist between providing inclusive education in mainstream classrooms and market-driven neoliberal values such as academic success and school ranking. These values impinge on teachers' responsibilities to teach students with disabilities. Schools are ranked based on students' performance in national examinations and schools sometimes use…

This article expands on 10 critical actions within the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) and The Arc's 2018 joint position statement on the right of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to have a free and appropriate public education (FAPE): (a) zero reject; (b) nondiscriminatory…

Across OECD countries, there are various and diverse policy approaches in place to promote inclusive education systems for students with special education needs (SEN), understood as learning disabilities, physical impairments and disorders related to mental health. Analysing current policies in place across OECD countries and investigating…

Students identified with disabilities are increasingly being educated with the assistance of support services within heterogeneous (i.e., general education) classrooms (United States Department of Education, 2011). Yet, in this era of high stakes accountability, students are labeled, sorted, and differentially treated according to their academic…

In this article, we provide commentary on the "state of play" of inclusive education in the United States. We focus on the promises and limitations of inter-related accountability- and market-driven policies and Response to Intervention (RTI) (Vaughn and Fuchs, 2003). We argue that these policies and practice have "hopscotched"…

The principal is the key element in shaping and sustaining educational programs that provide children with disabilities the opportunity to be educated in the general education setting. Federal mandates require compliance in educational services for children with disabilities. This has changed the role of principals in education. As schools strive…

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability promotes equal and full participation by children in education. Equity of educational access for all students, including students with disability, free from discrimination, is the first-stated national goal of Australian education. Australian federal disability discrimination law, the…

The successful participation of students with disabilities in a general education classroom is generally presumed to be contingent on the creation of classroom communities that can nurture the qualities of equity and care and where different forms of diversity are valued. However, there has been less scholarship that documents the production of…

This report presents descriptive findings on school practices in 12 states for schools explicitly held accountable for the performance of the students with disabilities (SWD) subgroup. The study found that, when surveyed in 2011, elementary schools accountable for the SWD subgroup were 15.8 percentage-points more likely than never-accountable…

Current federal legislation holds schools accountable for ensuring that all students, including those with disabilities, make adequate yearly progress on academic achievement measures, while also including students with disabilities in general education settings whenever possible. Schools are thus expected to be both excellent and equitable in…

To ensure the best possible outcomes for young children with and without disabilities, early childhood educators must enter the classroom ready to conduct all types of early childhood assessment--including determining if children need additional services, planning and monitoring instruction, and determining program effectiveness. They'll get the…

The need for school-based collaboration has increased over the past decade, and with mandates from the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, this need will continue. The IDEIA requires that students with disabilities have access to the general education curriculum and…

The purpose of this document is to provide charter school authorizers with targeted technical assistance related to special education in charter schools. Charter school laws are unique to each state, and they provide a wide range of policies and practices for the hundred of authorizers chartering schools nationally. As a result, providing…

This paper describes the impetus for creating the Expanding Opportunities Interagency Inclusion Initiative and achievements to date in identifying and implementing effective and efficient inclusion strategies in the participating states. In March 2004, the Child Care Bureau (CCB) (renamed the Office of Child Care) and the Administration on…

Although schools have made great strides educating students with disabilities in mainstreamed academic classrooms, some advocates and physical educators say sports programs and physical education classes are the final frontier for full inclusion in public schools. In the past few years, advocates for such students have been demanding greater…