Does "All" Mean "All"? Interrogating the Place of Students With Significant Disabilities in Inclusive Education Reform

• In Event: Interrogating Inclusive Education: A Look to the Future

Abstract

This paper considers neoliberal education policies and persistent segregation rates for students with significant disability labels in United States schools to ask the question: Do current inclusive education reform efforts authentically encompass students with the most significant disability labels? In order to dig into this question, we analyze six large-scale inclusive education frameworks and consider whether these reform efforts substantially incorporate students with significant disabilities. Based on our findings, we describe how multi-tiered systems of support, standards and curriculum, and pedagogy act as inclusive reform priorities. Our analysis is grounded in disability studies theory, including how neoliberal ideologies shift inclusive reform priorities. Ultimately, we question whether current approaches to inclusive reform are able to adequately transform schools towards full inclusivity.

Authors

• Jessica K. Bacon, Montclair State University
  Presenting Author

• Katherine Vroman, Rider University
  Presenting Author