Excellence in Education: Assuring Equity for All
Education, fundamentally the preparation of young people for their lives as adults, is and has been undergoing reform for a number of years. What educators believe is important for children to learn and how children are instructed, has evolved as technological knowledge and skill have greatly expanded our horizons.
In Maine the Common Core of Learning has evolved into the Learning Results, a comprehensive set of educational standards articulating what students should know and be able to do upon their high school graduation. Performance based assessment strategies, including portfolios and demonstrations, have increasingly replaced standardized tests. Integrated curricula have replaced separate and discrete content courses. Cooperative and experiential learning strategies are teaching students valuable communication and collaborative skills. Career pathways, including apprenticeships and other work study programs, are serving to better prepare youth for the world of work and post secondary education.
This new found knowledge about what enhances education must be applied to all students. Students with disabilities must have access to all of these innovations.
Inclusive education, the focus of this issue of Centerpoint, has served to enhance and improve the education of all students, including students with disabilities. The National Association of State Boards of Education, in Winning Ways: Creating Inclusive Schools, Classrooms and Communities (1995), report on research findings related to inclusive education. They found that inclusive education has implications for how education is delivered for all students and that it has a positive impact on the education of all students. Teachers practicing in inclusive schools have been shown to have a greater ability to accept, implement, and be open to change; increased professional confidence; improved planning skills; and, an increased awareness of all students' needs. Additionally, students with disabilities were found to acquire social and communication skills previously undeveloped in segregated placements, show increased interaction with peers, and have more positive postschool adjustment. IEPs were found to be of higher quality and students with disabilities showed an increased level of achievement of IEP objectives in inclusive settings.
In Maine there are increasingly greater numbers of schools where excellent examples of inclusive education practices are evident. While we struggle to realize our vision of improved educational outcomes, our efforts must be based on a commitment to all students. We must no longer accept the fact that students with disabilities are significantly less likely to pursue postsecondary study; that students with disabilities are unemployed or underemployed at rates far in excess of their peers without disabilities; that few students with disabilities participate in meaningful vocational education; and, that students with disabilities are significantly more likely to dropout prior to their completion of high school.
We know there are educational practices that are likely to enhance the inclusion and success of students with disabilities. These practices include participation in regular education and extracurricular activities. They positively impact the educational outcomes of all students, including students with disabilities. Maine's Learning Results hold great promise for enhancing the postschool outcomes of all Maine students by preparing them for their lives as adults. The promise of this far reaching initiative will fall short should any Maine student be excluded. Inclusive educational practices will become the mechanism by which we realize the Learning Results for all Maine students.
Deb Gilmer