Toward a Unified System of Education: Where Do We Go From Here?

This special issue provides a selective overview of topics associated with a pre-dominant trend in Canadian and U.S. schools: moving from a dual system of education in which special education and regular education services are carried out separately, to an effective unified system of service delivery for all students (Stainback, Stainback, & Bunch, 1989). Even though much of the impetus for change has come from proponents in special education (Lipsky & Gartner, 1989; Porter & Richler, 1991; Villa, Thousand, Stainback, & Stainback, 1992), there is increasing evidence that general education reform and school improvement agendas are beginning to take hold (Barth, 1991; Smith & Scott, 1990). The chal-lenge of creating school environments that promote excellence and equity is daunting but not impossible, and some of the preliminary efforts in this area are very promising. The focus of this special issue is on some of the significant work that is being carried out across the country to support this change. Although the range of topics is diverse, all papers are concerned with the complex problems associated with providing every student (particularly students with exceptional learning needs) an appropriate education that enables each to reach maximal potential

Canadian Schools in Transition: Moving From Dual Education Systems to Inclusive Schools

This paper provides a synthesis of educational reforms in Canadian schools over the past century to present times. The unique emphasis is to document the broad movements of change in both special and regular education. We begin our analy-sis with a detailed discussion on the many meanings of school restructuring and highlight the ongoing nature of school reform. Following a selective chronology of general and special education reform, we attempt to capture what appear to be the key features of school reform and progressive inclusion. The numerous obsta-cles to school reform are outlined and the evolving roles of those most centrally connected with the school culture—teachers, students, and parents—are re-viewed. Several conditions for successful change are presented and the adoption of a balance of interests, policies, principles, and practices is recommended along with a transformation from dual systems to a unified system of education for all students. Regular and special educators are the professionals who must make school transformation reflect excellence and equity in our Canadian schools, and all available resources and support need to be deployed to this end

Gifted Children’s Representations of Learner Identities

Elementary and secondary students identified as gifted produced representations of themselves as readers, writers, and mathematicians and were interviewed about what they chose to represent. Interviews indicated a developmental pro-gression in the way academic learning is understood, a progression that also was evident in their representations. Action-based understanding of academic learn-ing in early childhood progresses to increasingly complex integration of mental activity and knowledge of self-as-learner with descriptions of learning activities in middle childhood. Adolescence is marked by views of learning as transforma-tive and emergent recognition of the nature of knowledge as important in learning. The representations showed similar developmental characteristics, but also offered complementary, creative views of the students’ learning identities

DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT BETWEEN ADOLESCENTS WHO REMAIN IN A K‐8 SCHOOL AND THOSE WHO TRANSITION TO A JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

There has been abundant research examining how early life experiences affect achievement. In this article, we investigate the transition from elementary to junior high school at a developmental stage where numerous changes have an impact on students. Using nationally representative survey data, we found no differences in academic achievement between students who transitioned to grade seven from an elementary school in comparison to those who remained in the same school. We did find a significant decline in mathematics achievement between grade five and grade seven for children, regardless of their transition status. We present a developmental, rather than environmental, explanation. Key words: school adjustment, adolescent development, mathematics achievement  Il existe de nombreuses recherches sur l’effet des expériences vécues durant l’enfance sur la réussite scolaire. Dans cet article, les auteures étudient la transition d’une école primaire à une école secondaire du premier cycle à un stade du développement où de nombreux changements ont un impact sur les élèves. Se servant de données d’enquête représentatives à l’échelle nationale, les auteures n’ont trouvé aucune différence dans le rendement scolaire entre les élèves qui sont passés en 7e année dans une autre école par rapport à ceux qui sont restés à la même école. Elles ont noté toutefois une diminution importante des notes dans les examens de mathématiques entre les enfants de 5e année et ceux de 7e année, transition ou non. Il s’agirait, selon les auteures, d’une question de développement plutôt que de milieu. Mots clés : adaptation scolaire, développement à l’adolescence, rendement scolaire en mathématiques

The Characteristics and Experiences of Canadian Students Receiving Special Education Services for Emotional/Behavioural Difficulties

This paper provides a description of the demographic characteristics as well as the social and academic experiences of a nationally representative sample of Canadian students receiving special education services for an Emo-tional/Behavioural Difficulty (EBD) and a comparison group of students without disabilities (ND). Data summarized in this article were drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. Results reveal numerous areas of dif-ference between groups from student, parent, and teacher perspectives. In particular, the EBD group contained a significantly greater proportion of boys and students from low income families. Students in the EBD group reported hav-ing difficulty making friends and not liking school as much as their ND peers. Academic expectations reported by teachers and parents for children with EBD were significantly lower than for children without disabilities. Discussions of these findings as well as implications for practice and for future research are pre-sented

Educational Leadership to Create Authentic Inclusive Schools: The Experiences of Principals in a Canadian Rural School District

Inclusive education—based on the premise of social justice—advocates equal ac-cess to educational opportunities for all students. This research provides insight into the inclusive experiences of school principals in a Canadian rural school dis-trict through quantitative and qualitative inquiries. A survey was administered to 16 school administrators, and following initial data analysis, individual inter-views with four school principals were carried out as part of a multi-perspective case study of students with special needs. Overall, inclusion was viewed in a posi-tive light and extended beyond classroom placement to meeting the needs of diverse groups of students within the regular classroom. The responsibilities and strategies of the principals that support inclusion are outlined and other factors that contribute to effective inclusion identified. Key factors include collaboration among key players in the students’ education and opportunities for professional development. The results have implications for school leadership preparation and professional development of school administrators

Teacher perspectives on inclusive education in rural Alberta, Canada

The results of 123 elementary- to secondary-level teacher surveys and 14 in-depth qualitative interviews examining the teachers’ perspectives regarding inclusion in a rural school district are reported. Four features of inclusive education from the perspective of teachers are revealed: (1) attitudes toward inclusion; (2) supportive communication and cooperation; (3) classroom community; and (4) support and training. The results of this study corroborate existing research and indicate significant differences between elementary and secondary teachers’ perceptions for some of the factors. Future research in this study will examine teachers’ instructional practices providing a more complete picture of inclusive teaching in rural Alberta, Canada

Parent Perspectives on Inclusive Education in Rural Alberta, Canada

This paper is one of a series of papers examining inclusive education in the con-text of a rural Canadian school district that has adopted a philosophy of inclusion. The results of a survey of 438 parents on their views about aspects of inclusive education at their youngest child’s school are reported. The results indi-cate that the majority of parents were generally positive in their views about and experiences with the inclusive school environment and links to the local communi-ty; however, parents were by no means unanimous in their level of comfort with inclusive education. Tensions were found to exist, and differences in the expe-rience of parents of children who had identified exceptionalities were evident. This study points to the paucity of research on parents and inclusive education and provides some direction for future work in the area