How can inclusion be beneficial for all students?

1. How can inclusion be beneficial for all students? Looking at how inclusion can be a successful model for student with and without disabilities Mary Felton

2. Literature Review When looking at inclusion, two areas were heavily researched: Social relationships and Implementation Social relationships look at small group instruction and how friendships lead to successful academic work in the classroom. Implementation is successful when there is support, positive teachers’ attitudes, data, and family involvement. *all of the studies looked at students with mild to moderate disabilities.

3. Questions Overarching question: how can inclusion be helpful for regular education students? Supporting questions: How do the opinions of administrators and teachers effect the implementation of inclusion? When do students feel most successful? How can administrators support staff so that inclusion is effectively executed in schools?

4. Rationale for Questions Literature suggests that there are many effective ways to teach students with mild to moderate disabilities. Though it seems fairly intrinsic, there is not much research on how the modifications for these students also aids the general population of students. From my practice in the classroom, there are moments when students with disabilities have meltdowns and tear apart the classroom. The general education students see this and have negative reactions to the meltdown. This prompted me to wonder how inclusion is beneficial to them. When do students with disabilities feel successful? How can we nurture this feeling so maybe we can control meltdowns?

5. Instrumentation Surveys: talk to administrators, teachers, and students Numerical check-in with students: how successful do they feel on a scale of 1-5 with one being not successful at all and five being very successful Observations: what is going on in the classroom during check-ins with the students?

6. Analyzing Data After coding different types of data, look for themes and patterns that occur. Cross check the data sources- are there patterns across data? See how survey questions and check ins change over the school year. Do students feel more confident at the end of the year versus the beginning of the year? What outside factors may affect this? From observations, does the level of support change over the course of the year? How does this change the response of teachers and administrators during surveys?