Ignorant Inclusion

Like so many other ideas in education, it’s a great idea: put all students in the same classroom because every student adds value to the classroom. It’s the perfect cop out answer because it requires minimal effort and nobody can argue against it without appearing heartless on the surface; if someone does, they are arguing that some students don’t add value. It’s like a lazy zookeeper arguing that gazelles and cheetahs belong in the same exhibit because all animals add value and anyone who disagrees simply doesn’t like animals or doesn’t want to deal with different types of animals.

I am all for including students at the highest level they can achieve at, but when students are put in classes that they can’t compete, it is nothing but a disservice. In one of my better classes, I had a number of the top students in the school, including one who didn’t miss a question on an assessment until the third unit exam. There was also one of the sweetest autistic kids I have ever met. For Christmas since he knew I liked to run, he got me a pedometer. Yes, it looked like it came out of a happy meal, but it was the most thoughtful gift any student has gotten me. However, while others were busy acing my tests, this student was too busy drawing beautiful dragons to circle the answers to multiple choice questions.

Without extra support, there’s no way students with extra needs are going to thrive in this environment. However, schools simply don’t have the resources to adequately serve these students. The IEPs – supposedly individualized plans for each student – were of minimal assistance since most looked like they had been copied and pasted from a standard form. Goals were about as specific as a presidential candidate’s proposals and about as realistic as the Lions winning the Super Bowl. Worse was the fact that case managers communicated with me less often than a deadbeat dad. While I’m sure there are some slacking case workers, I can only imagine the caseload they are expected to manage. My only contact with a case manager all year is documented below:

Location: Lunchroom, as I am on lunch duty
Case Manager (CM): Mr. Keenan?
Me: Yes?
CM: Do you have (insert student name here)?
Me: Yes…are you his mother?
CM: No, actually I’m his case manager.
Me: Great! I’d love to talk to you to get some ideas for how I can keep him focused in class and get him to answer questions instead of drawing on his tests.
CM (needing to leave): I’ve got strategies to help with that. I’ll get back to you and we can meet sometime.
Me: Wonderful.

One teacher told me at the beginning of the year never to fail a student with special needs – for my own protection. If all of a student’s special accommodations aren’t met to the letter, I was warned, the teacher is held responsible – but apparently an artificially inflated grade covers academic shortcomings better than Estee Lauder covers blemishes. Many of the students I had should have had an extra resource teaching assisting in all of their core classes. As a social studies teacher, I was a core teacher but students in my class didn’t get a resource teacher like they did in math and English but I was still expected to be able to single handedly support my students. I felt like an already bankrupt state who just got yet another unfunded federal mandate dropped on them.

In the end, it’s the kids who need the most help who end up suffering. No, it won’t be easy – or cheap – to give these students the support they need, but throwing them in any old classroom is like throwing an untrained person in a science lab and thinking the reason the person doesn’t succeed is because of laziness or blaming the lead scientist for not bringing out the best in the team. Is throwing money always a solution to problems? Of course not. But carefully directed funds to relieve overworked case workers and provide additional support for educators – whether it be in the form of resource teachers or pull-out classes – would be a great start down the path to giving all students the education they need and deserve.