Equity as a Basis for Inclusive Educational Systems Change

Inclusion of students with “disabilities” in public systems of general education has been a global initiative since the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action by the UN General Assembly in 1994. Despite global and national policy efforts the practice has been sporadic and elusive. Framing education as categorical, specialized service delivery to discrete populations makes inclusion an unsolvable problem. The advent of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) coupled with universal design for learning (UDL) practices delivered in whole-school rather than classroom-based formats poses a pathway out of the conundrum by framing public education as a system of equitable distribution of resources such as services and supports based on measured and monitored need on the part of all students. Potentially supportive research literature is reviewed

Rethinking Inclusion: Schoolwide Applications

Efforts to bring about a unified system of educational supports and services from the standpoint of special education have focused primarily on the concept of inclusion. Various models of inclusion have suffered from a variety of ills, including a shift of educational responsibility from teachers to paraeducators in many cases, and isolation of students with disabilities in general education classes with one-on-one paraeducator support. Sailor and Roger offer a different concept to achieve unified services and supports called the Schoolwide Applications Model (SAM). This approach proceeds on the basis of six guiding principles and is operationalized with 15 critical features that collectively integrate all categorical programs, including special education, with a site-based management model that reconfigures all resources in such a manner as to benefit all students.(7pp.

Integrating Services, Collaborating, and Developing Connections with Schools

When a new cottage industry develops around a bewildering array of buzzwords, something important is happening. When competent people from all walks of life struggle to make sense of these buzzwords, they are identifying important policy needs and problems with practice. When schools are in trouble, and when results for vulnerable children, youth, and families do not improve, the seeds are being sown for self-doubt, cynicism, skepticism, and maltreatment dynamics. When practicing professionals protect themselves from blame by pointing their fingers at others, when they manifest some of the same needs as the most vulnerable families, and when a growing number of them bum out and drop out, systemic problems are being implicated. When children kill other children, their teachers, and their parents, and when America's schools become their killing fields, something is clearly wrong, and that something needs to be fixed. When no one knows all that's wrong, and when there are competing definitions of what is wrong that needs fixing and what is good and right that needs strengthening, individuals, groups, entire professions, and organizations often work at cross-purposes. As they work at cross-purposes, they are effectively manufacturing diversity and simultaneously adding to the list of buzzwords. Finally, when the American "quick-fix mentality " reigns, even the most promising innovations often ar

Improving Learning for All Students through Equity-Based Inclusive Reform Practices: Effectiveness of a Fully Integrated Schoolwide Model on Student Reading and Math Achievement

The present investigation examines the Schoolwide Applications Model (SAM) as a potentially effective school reform model for increasing equity-based inclusive education practices while at the same time enhancing student reading and math achievement for all students. A three year quasi-experimental comparison group analysis using Latent Growth Modeling (LGM) was employed with seven urban elementary or elementary/middle schools and seven matched comparison schools in the same district. Results suggest significantly larger growth for experimental school students in math and no statistically significant difference in reading score growth between experimental and comparison schools. However, reading score growth for experimental schools was statistically significant in a post hoc analysis of selected schools. Additional descriptive analysis is presented for three schools that implemented the model with the highest measured fidelity; these schools made improvements on both reading and math scores while those of matching comparison schools decreased

Development and Preliminary Technical Adequacy of Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation Fidelity of Implementation Tool

U.S. public education systems are required to provide free appropriate public education to students with disabilities in least restrictive environments that are appropriate to meet their individual needs. The practice of educating students with disabilities in neighborhood schools in age-appropriate general education classrooms and other school settings to meet this requirement has come to be known as “inclusive education.” The longstanding interest in keeping students with disabilities in the same classrooms with their neighbors and peers has created a need for reform to establish equity in America’s schools. Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation (SWIFT) is a whole-system school reform model provided through a national technical assistance center that addresses core features of inclusive education support for elementary and middle schools, particularly those that are chronically low performing and those serving students with the most extensive needs. We describe the development and preliminary technical adequacy of Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation Fidelity of Implementation Tool (SWIFT-FIT) as a means to document the extent to which schools are implementing inclusive education. Findings provide preliminary support for trained assessors using SWIFT-FIT as a valid and reliable instrument to produce evidence that describes the extent to which schools install, implement, and sustain these evidence-based practices. Researchers and other school personnel can use these data to evaluate the impact of implementation on progress as well as important student and other outcomes