Student Abilities and Challenges

One aspect of education that must not be overlooked is the education and
inclusion of students with exceptionalities or students with challenges such
as the learning of the English language.
It seems silly to think that at one point society did not see the importance of
giving a free and appropriate education to all of its children, but according to
Schimmel, Stellman, and Fischer in Teachers and the Law (2011), until the
1970s, children with disabilities were generally excluded from schooling and
misclassified or improperly placed in educational programs (370). Several
laws have been enacted since then to ensure that all students get the
education they deserve including Public Law 94-142 (IDEA; 1975), the
Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), and Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 (Schimmel et al. 2011).
According to Hoy and Hoy (2009), research has shown that inclusion of
students has shown to be of benefit to lower-achieving students. The law
already requires states to develop procedures for educating each child in the
least restrictive environment (80). My philosophy is that it is essential that
we, as educators, genuinely commit to the practice of inclusion of and
success for all students, both those in regular educational settings and those
in special education settings. It is also important that students who are
learning the English language are not overlooked.
It is central that all regular education and special education students receive
the education that they deserve while in school. Regardless of a schools
inclusion plan, no students learning should be hindered as a result of
whatever program they are placed into. Therefore, my plan for the
implementation of my philosophy would be to design a hierarchical approach
when scheduling classes. Many schools already do this by offering courses
where instruction and levels of rigor are staggered based on student ability. I
believe this approach to be one of the best plans for implementing abilitygrouping in schools.
The highest tier would be classes such as Advanced Placement, Honors
classes, and/or IB classes if available. These classes should be for students
who have shown that they possess the ability to understand, comprehend,
and master rigorous content. In this case, whether the student is on an IEP or
other plan of accommodation should be irrelevant if the student has shown
they can succeed in this setting.
The second tier of this system would be the regular education setting. These
classes are the ones most widely available to students and have the biggest
benefit for students who achieve at a lower rate because they have the
option of immersing regular education students with students receiving

special education services. In these classes, student populations are mixed,

and research has shown that students with disabilities can benefit from
involvement with their nondisabled peers and should be educated with them
in their regular home-district school, (80).
As an English teacher, and someone who has taught reading intervention to
students, I know the struggle that comes along with learning English. Anyone
looking at our chart of 18 vowel sounds compared to one like the Spanish
language, with only 5 vowel sounds, could easily feel overwhelmed. A third
piece in the implementation of my philosophy would only apply to students
struggling while learning to speak English. These programs would be tailored
to students literacy. They may be every day regular education classes, but
might include the assistance of an ESOL para or ESOL-endorsed teacher who
could assist them with their schoolwork and the completion of it.
A regular education setting should not be made a requirement for a student
whose progress in past courses has been hindered because of it. This brings
us to a tier of the implementation plan that many schools have and that is
the adapted level of learning for students with exceptionalities. In adaptive
classrooms, students learn at a slower rate and in a smaller setting. In
addition, these classes may be smaller and tailored to fit a more specific
learning style. This has shown to be of benefit to students who were
unsuccessful in traditional classrooms. For some students, these classes are
necessary.
All students should receive support, regardless of their status of regular
versus special education. Today, regular education students receive many of
the same benefits that students receiving special education services receive
but to a more marginalized non-specific degree.
For example, a regular education student receives support from stakeholders
such as his parents, his teachers, and himself, while a special education
student receives those same supports with the addition of a case worker or
IEP manager. An IEP manager is an important component in the education of
a student receiving special education services. The IEP manager should be a
source of support, progress monitoring and data tracking, as well as a
medium for communication between the students teachers and parents.
When all stakeholders come together they can effectively determine the
correct placement for including a student. When parents, teachers, IEP
managers and students work together, they can accurately determine which
placement would best serve the needs of that child and in doing so, they put
that child on a path towards success in our rapidly growing and changing
world.

Work Cited
Hoy, Anita Woolfolk, and Wayne K. Hoy. Instructional Leadership: A Researchbased Guide to Learning in Schools. Boston: Pearson, 2009. Print.
Schimmel, David, Leslie Stellman, and Louis Fischer. Teachers and the Law.
8th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2011. Print.