Inclusive Education

Inclusion in District 75 is a method of providing special education services in the least restrictive environment and is defined as follows:

• the student ideally attends his/her home zoned school (the school he/she would attend if he/she were not disabled or have available the same options for school attendance as typical neighborhood peers);
• the student has membership in an age appropriate general education class, and receives all the special education services/supports needed to participate and succeed within the context of general education;
• the curriculum, activities, materials, and/or schedule are adapted and or modified to address the student's individual goals and objectives as specified on the IEP;
• the student with disabilities participates in activities and classes in numbers which reflect the natural proportions of individuals with disabilities within the community at large; and
• the student's classification remains the same; only the location and method of delivery of special education services change

Not Mainstreaming

Inclusion is not mainstreaming as inclusion involves

• the ongoing support of individual student needs, such as adaptation and modification of curriculum, activities, materials, and schedules;
• appropriate staffing ratios;
• integrated related services;
• innovative instructional strategies;and
• a team approach to service delivery.

By contrast, in mainstreaming, the special education student's level of achievement should be comparable to the functional level of the mainstream class to which he or she is assigned and the student’s primary membership is in special education.

Not Integration

Inclusion is not Integration, in which the special education student continues to have primary membership in his or her special education class and attends general education classes in numbers that do not reflect natural demographic proportions in the community. Often, integration is a precursor to inclusive programming.

Not Collaborative Team Teaching

Inclusion is different from the Collaborative Team Teaching model, in which students with disabilities participate in classrooms taught by a full-time general education teacher and a full-time special education teacher. Up to 40% of the class can be comprised of students with IEPs and 60% of the class is comprised of students without IEPs.

Inclusion may be, but is not necessarily, a path to decertification or recertification in that the special education student may continue to need and to receive supports. The student's classification remains the same; only the location and method of delivery of special education services changes.
 

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