Inclusive Reform as a Response to High-Stakes Pressure? Leading toward Inclusion in the Age of Accountability

2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (14) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
George Theoharis ◽  
Julie Causton ◽  
Chelsea P. Tracy-Bronson
Keyword(s):  
School Reform ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Distributed Leadership ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Inclusive School ◽  
Age Of Accountability ◽  
General Education Classrooms

Students identified with disabilities are increasingly being educated with the assistance of support services within heterogeneous (i.e., general education) classrooms. Yet, in this era of high-stakes accountability, students are labeled, sorted, and differentially treated according to their academic achievement as reflected on standardized tests. We engaged in a project to better understand how educators grapple with these externally imposed pressures as they work to change the organizational structure of their schools to be able to implement greater inclusion of their students served by special education. We spent four years in two elementary schools engaged in inclusive school reform (shifting from exclusionary model to an inclusive one) specifically as a response to the pressures of test-based accountability mandates. Our work was guided by the following questions. In this era of high-stakes testing accountability: • What does school-wide inclusive reform for students with disabilities involve? • What kinds of changes can result from inclusive reform? • What role does leadership play in inclusive reform? The article focuses on what inclusive reform involved, the resulting changes, and the role distributed leadership played in moving toward more inclusive service in the age of high-stakes accountability.

Standardized Writing Opportunities: A Case Study of Writing Instruction in Inclusive Classrooms

2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Laura E. Bray ◽  
Alicia A. Mrachko ◽  
Christopher J. Lemons
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Writing Instruction ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
English Classrooms ◽  
Accountability Policy ◽  
General Education Classrooms

Background/Context For an increasing percentage of students with disabilities, writing instruction is taking place in general education classrooms. The practice of instructing students with disabilities in general education classrooms is commonly referred to as inclusion. For elementary and middle school English teachers, inclusion requires that they teach students with varying instructional needs how to write. While numerous studies have examined writing instruction and interventions for students with disabilities, little research has closely examined the phenomenon and implications of providing writing instruction in inclusive classrooms. Focus of Study In this study, we examined the writing opportunities provided to students in four eighth-grade English classrooms at a full inclusion middle school. Research Design We employed a qualitative case study design to collect multiple sources of data, including writing tasks, grading requirements, prewriting activities, lesson plans, writing task information sheets, and interviews with teachers. Our analysis sought to triangulate findings from these multiple data sources to examine the types and quality of writing instruction provided in these inclusive English classrooms, along with the factors that influenced this instruction. Findings The findings from this study indicate the writing opportunities provided to students were of poor quality and were influenced by state standards and high-stakes accountability assessments. Furthermore, students with disabilities were provided with nearly the same writing opportunities as their nondisabled peers, with little differentiation, modifica-tion, or accommodation. The study also exposed organizational features and accountability policy pressures that promoted the instructional practice of standardization. Conclusions/Recommendations Our findings suggest that including students with disabilities into a general education English classroom does not necessarily lead to high-quality writing opportunities for those students. Current accountability policy emphasizes the standardization of learning goals and outcomes, with little focus on the actual types and quality of instruction provided to students. We argue that for students with disabilities, focusing solely on teaching grade-level learning standards and improving high-stakes accountability assessments is not the solution for improving instructional opportunities and outcomes. Our findings also revealed that, under certain conditions, standardization of instruction is a potential unintended consequence of inclusive education.

scholarly journals THAI SECONDARY TEACHER ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE INCLUSION OF STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 478-483
Author(s):  
Pattaraporn Jamsai
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Teacher Attitudes ◽  
Secondary Teachers ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Secondary Teacher ◽  
Students With Learning Disabilities ◽  
Teachers Attitudes ◽  
General Education Classrooms

Purpose of Study: The purpose of this study was to examine Thai secondary teacher attitudes towards inclusion of students with learning disabilities in general education classrooms. Methodology: The researcher collected quantitative data using a questionnaire with 28 Likert-type scale questions, adapted from the Opinions Relative to Integration of Students with Disabilities (ORI) as well as information related to training in special education, experience, and workload. The participants were comprised of a representative group of 370 secondary teachers from all regions of Thailand. Most participants indicated that they were female general education teachers and had a Bachelor’s degree. Main Finding: Through multiple linear regression, the findings showed that Thai secondary teachers generally held a positive attitude towards the inclusion of students with learning disabilities into general education classrooms. All three independent variables (hours of training, years of teaching experience, and hours of workload) were significant predictors of teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive classrooms, though the hours of workload was the strongest predictor. Applications: The study was conducted to better understand the variables that are meaningful to teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion.

The Opt-Out Movement in New York: A Grassroots Movement to Eliminate High-Stakes Testing and Promote Whole Child Public Schooling

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Zhe Chen ◽  
David Hursh ◽  
Bob Lingard
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Long Island ◽  
New York State ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Whole Child ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
York State ◽  
Opt Out

Purpose Over the last five years, approximately 50% of the students in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island and 20% across New York State have opted out of the yearly standardized tests for third through eighth grade. This article focuses on two grassroots organizations, New York State Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) and Long Island Opt Out (LIOO), the two parents who have been central to the organizations’ success, and the strategies and tactics that the two organizations have adopted to achieve such a high opt-out rate in New York. Context Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), third through eighth grade public school students have been required to take yearly standardized tests. The most recent version of the exams focused on assessing students, their teachers, and schools based on the Common Core State Standards. Many educators and parents have argued that the standards and assessments negatively affect student learning. In response, educators, parents, teachers, and students have lobbied and publicly testified in an effort to reduce the length of the exams, if not eliminate them. However, the testimonies have had almost no impact on the policymakers. Consequently, some parents concluded that the only way to influence policymakers is to get enough students to opt out of the tests so that the scores were not valid and thus could no longer be used to compare students and teachers within and across schools for accountability purposes. Research Design This study is drawn from a qualitative research project in which we conducted interviews to understand how the opt-out movement developed and the strategies it adopted in relation to high-stakes testing in New York. The interviews with two parent leaders from NYSAPE and LIOO are the main data source for this article. Findings NYSAPE and LIOO can be characterized as real grassroots social movements in that all members have input in the goals and organizing strategies, and unpaid leaders emerge from the membership. Further, because the organizations lack permanent funding, they have to be innovative in using media. By motivating and empowering others and using social media such as Facebook and Twitter, they built a large network and a strong base so that they could influence policymakers and respond quickly at the local and state levels. Conclusion Their organizing strategies exemplified the participatory and grassroots nature of the new social movements as theorized by McAlevey. The opt-out movement is pushing back not only against high-stakes testing but also against the larger neoliberal construction of parents as simply consumers of schooling, rather than as active, informed citizens. The movement also supports whole-child schooling.

Helping or Hovering? Effects of Instructional Assistant Proximity on Students with Disabilities

1997 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F. Giangreco ◽  
Susan W. Edelman ◽  
Tracy Evans Luiselli ◽  
Stephanie Z. C. Macfarland
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Peer Interactions ◽  
Personal Control ◽  
General Educators ◽  
Instructional Assistants ◽  
Instructional Assistant ◽  
General Education Classrooms

This study presents data on the effects of the proximity of instructional assistants on students with multiple disabilities who are placed in general education classrooms. Based on extensive observations and interviews, analyses of the data highlighted eight major findings of educational significance, all related to proximity of instructional assistants. Categories of findings and discussion include (a) interference with ownership and responsibility by general educators, (b) separation from classmates, (c) dependence on adults, (d) impact on peer interactions, (e) limitations on receiving competent instruction, (f) loss of personal control, (g) loss of gender identity, and (h) interference with instruction of other students. The article concludes with implications for practice related to policy development, training, classroom practices, and research.

Psychometric Analysis and Revision of the Opinions Relative to Mainstreaming Scale

1995 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard F. Antonak ◽  
Barbara Larrivee
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Disabled Persons ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Attitudes Toward Disabled ◽  
Item Characteristics ◽  
Initial Support ◽  
General Education Classrooms ◽  
Adequate Reliability

This article provides supporting evidence for the use of a revised version of the Opinions Relative to Mainstreaming (ORM) scale. Analyses of data produced by a test of the revised scale, the Opinions Relative to Integration of Students with Disabilities (ORI), indicated satisfactory item characteristics and adequate reliability and homogeneity. Initial support for ORI's construct validity was demonstrated by the results of regression analyses relating ORI scores to respondent sociodemographic and experiential data and scores on the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP). The ORI should prove useful to researchers evaluating the attitudes of educators toward the integration of students with disabilities into general education classrooms.

Relational Pedagogy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Jo Hinsdale
Keyword(s):  
School Reform ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Relational Pedagogy ◽  
Mandated Curriculum ◽  
Nel Noddings ◽  
Alternative Vision ◽  
Philosophical Writings

One could easily argue that the pedagogy of relation is not new: a genealogy of the approach would send us back to the ancient Greek philosophers. However, in recent years relational pedagogy has been taken up in novel and ever-deepening ways. It is a response to ongoing efforts at school reform that center on teacher and administrator accountability, based on a constraining view of education as the effective teaching of content. In this view, methods, curricula, and high-stakes testing overshadow the human relationship between teacher and student that relational pedagogy theorists place at the center of educational exchanges. When relationships are secondary to content, the result can be disinterested or alienated students and teachers who feel powerless to step outside the mandated curriculum of their school district. Offering an alternative vision of pedagogy in a troubling era of teacher accountability, contemporary relational theorists take inspiration from a range of philosophical writings. This article focuses on those whose work is informed by the concept of caring, as developed by Nel Noddings, with the critical perspective of Paulo Freire, or the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas. Although these approaches to ethical educational relations do not necessarily mesh together easily, the tensions among them can bear fruit that informs our pedagogy.

Do Teachers Spend Less Time Teaching in Classrooms With Students With Special Needs? Trends From International Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 273-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
North Cooc
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Special Needs ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Factors ◽  
Students With Special Needs ◽  
International Data ◽  
Teaching Time ◽  
General Education Classrooms

Debates about the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms often overlook its impact on teachers. In this study, I analyze the concern that teachers may spend less time teaching in classrooms with children with special needs using survey data on 121,173 teachers from 38 participating countries and partners of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013. I further examine teacher, classroom, and school factors that may explain disparities in time spent teaching in classrooms with and without students with special needs. The findings indicate teachers, on average, spend marginally less class time on teaching in classrooms that include more students with special needs. The disparity in teaching time is mostly removed when accounting for students with behavioral problems in classrooms.

A Comparative Study of Higher-Order Thinking and Teaching in the United States and United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-63
Author(s):  
Vibhakumari Solanki ◽  
Brian R. Evans
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Higher Order Thinking ◽  
The United States ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
The United Kingdom

The United States and the United Kingdom have used standardized high-stakes testing as a measurement of students’ cognitive level to determine success in the 21st century. Standardized tests have given teachers guidance to help them determine what to teach students and how to teach to the test. With such increased emphasis on high-stakes standardized tests, students are being taught based on tested content. This study evaluates the frequency of higher-and lower-order items in the respective country’s standardized test, and analyzes the teaching of higher-order thinking within classroom instruction.

Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Educational Placement of Students With Intellectual Disability by State and Year

Inclusion ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-221
Author(s):  
Eric J. Anderson ◽  
Matthew E. Brock
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Least Restrictive Environment ◽  
Educational Placement ◽  
Placement Decisions ◽  
Federal Mandate ◽  
Restrictive Environment ◽  
The Right ◽  
General Education Classrooms

Abstract Despite the longstanding federal mandate to place students with disabilities in general education classrooms to the maximum extent appropriate, most students with intellectual disability continue to spend most of their time in separate classrooms and schools. In this study, we describe longitudinal educational placement patterns in six states that represent the wide span of educational placement (i.e., Vermont, Kentucky, Kansas, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Montana). Surprisingly, some states are trending toward more restrictive placements, and the gap between the most and least inclusive states is continuing to widen over time. We offer constructive suggestions for appropriately applying the principle of least restrictive environment so that placement decisions are driven by student needs and not where students live.

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