Factors Affecting Inclusive Education Practices: Case of an Elementary School

• In Event: 25.084 - MTCC Roundtable Session Seven
  In Roundtable Session: 25.084-8 - Education Challenges Globally

Abstract

This paper reports the result of a qualitative case study conducted in an elementary school to examine teachers’ perspectives and beliefs about inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. The participants of this study were recruited from an elementary school located in Rio Grande Valley, which lies across the US-Mexico border region in South Texas, United States. Preliminary results indicate that teachers view inclusive education practices as pedagogically challenging. While Individuals with Disabilities Act (2004) states that students with disabilities should participate in regular education curriculum to the maximum extent possible, most of the teachers consider inclusion as a debatable “ideology”. The study provides an insight on implementations of inclusive education practices in culturally diverse high need schools.

Authors

• Ashwini Tiwari, University of Houston - Downtown

• Bernardo E. Pohl, University of Houston-Downtown

• Ajay K. Das, Empire State College - SUNY