In the nineteen seventies, we talked about mainstreaming. In particular, we talked about placing students with special needs in the least restrictive environment. These days, we talked about "inclusion.' This simply means to place students with disabilities in a class that they would normally be placed in if they were without a disability. This is the law, and many schools are complying. However, if we believe that inclusion can do it alone, we are fooling ourselves. Students with a disability need more than being placed in a regular classroom. In the following pages, I will discuss a few suggestions that schools should apply in addition to inclusion.

I. Schools Should Provide Extra Help
One of the major problems with many schools systems is their insistence on an archaic technique called tracking. The basic assumption about tracking is that students will learn best when the instructional context is matched well to individual knowledge and ability. Consequently, students are divided into homogenous learning groups. Many teachers believe that with such groups they can offer lessons that no student finds too hard or too easy. If the tracking is within class grouping, it is often accomplished by forming smaller sub-groups for instruction. In most elementary schools, the three reading groups (advanced, average, and slow readers) are typical. In middle and high schools, grouping is done between classes.

There are those students who are assigned to academic or college prepatory, general and vocational pathways. In some schools, you may even find separate classes within these programs. Such tracking is being practiced in the Virgin Islands either explicitly or implicitly. The problem with tracking is that most students with special needs are tracked in the lower classes or groups. As a result, if they are tracked between classes, they are assigned to the least experienced teachers, and if they are tracked within classes, they are not expected to perform at the level of their peers.

Inclusion By Itself Cannot Do It

By

Yegin Habteyes, Ph.D.

Teachers expect this group to perform at a slower pace, do little homework, and henceforth, cover fewer curriculum units. In fact, according to Goodlad, a contemporary educator, tracking widens the gap in achievement between the top and bottom levels, not to mention the fact that it ignores the legitimate needs of students with special needs. Therefore, all schools should do away with all aspects of tracking based on ability that affects the self concept of students. Instead, the school system in general and schools in particular, should develop approaches that offer extra help to students with special needs experiencing difficulties in the regular classrooms.
This could be done in a number of ways. For example, one approach would be the use of computers. Here, a student would pursue individualized study before, after, and even during classes. In an individualized study program, the student will interface a certain portion of the curriculum that he/she is supposed to complete. This is the student's means of getting appropriate assignments and of facilitating his/her own learning with appropriate self-study services. Another way would be to initiate peer tutoring. This would have a double positive effect. First, it would prevent course failure, and secondly, it would help both the child with special needs and the tutor to grow socially together. However, certain procedures must be followed in order for tutoring to be effective. Klaus, a noted educator, provides qualities of successful tutoring practices for teacher application:

    Black-blue bulletA respectful relationship between tutor and tutee
    Black-blueWell-organized and long-term arrangements
    Black-blueStructured tutoring assignments that prescribe content, sequence, and procedure
    Black-blueMatching of same gender students
    Black-blueNo evaluation by tutors
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II. In-Service Training
Another major approach to consider is to provide teachers with useful teaching methods. I think the era of training special education teachers to teach in a small classroom by themselves has gone. With true inclusion, there is one big family. Therefore, instead of talking about special education teachers, let us talk about training teachers. However, all teachers should be familiar with instructional techniques that actively involve all students in mastery learning and individualized instruction.

One teaching technique that is gaining ground in the United States is called cooperative learning. This arrangement has students working in teams of mixed ability. Team members help each other and check each other's work. As they work, teachers instruct small groups of students pulled from various teams to work on specific concepts and skills from the curriculum.

Cooperative teaching provides for a small heterogeneous, or mixed ability group to work toward a common goal. Cooperative learning will be beneficial to all students if it occurs in the following way:

    Black-blueAssignment of individual students to specific responsibilities within a larger group task or project
    Black-blueAssignment of students to work together on a common project or task
    Black-blueAssignment of students to groups to study and be responsible for group members learning

Another area that we should rediscover is mastery learning. In any class, when a new topic is introduced, some students master the content in no time while it takes others a longer time. I know that placing instruction appropriately is a difficult act, and inclusion might make it more difficult . Nevertheless, mastery learning is an instructional strategy that allows students to progress at their own pace through a unit of study. Formative evaluation through quizzes and tests are used to provide feedback to the student and the teacher about learning progress. When students do well on quizzes and tests, they move to the next section, and if they do not pass, they are moved top alternative learning activities. Final mastery is determined by summative final examinations.

Finally, I have always defined teaching by saying that it is a process of finding where a student is and taking him/her as far as you can. If you accept this definition, then students should be your starting point. They should be encouraged to demonstrate their competence through different avenues, not merely through a score on a true or false test.

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III. Involve Consumers and Parents of Consumers
At one point in my life, I taught Word History. As a teacher, I tried to show pictures, slides, films, etc. whenever I taught. One of the topics I had to cover was World War II. One time, when I was to cover this topic, my father, who fought in World War II, came to visit me. He told me a lot of stories about the war, and I decided to invite him to my class to share some of his experiences. The students enjoyed his presentation and asked him several questions. Teachers could do the same thing by inviting older consumers and their parents to the classroom. Who would know better than the person who went through the whole experience of growing up with a disability? I do not think anyone can relate better than parents to all the frustrations and tribulations they went through to get services for their children. I think that teachers, nurses and doctors can learn a valuable lesson from consumers and parents. Who will tell you better how to be served than the one you are supposed to serve?

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Writer: Yegin Habteyes, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Education and Executive Director VIUAP

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