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TASH RESOLUTION ON INCLUSIVE QUALITY EDUCATION
Statement of Purpose
TASH supports a vision of high expectations for all students and a commitment to a set
of learning goals or standards that are strong, clear, understood, and put into practice.
TASH values and supports diversity and recognizes both the legal right to and the
reciprocal benefits of inclusive education.
Rationale
A high quality public education is the right of all school-age children and youth.
Students with disabilities have a right to be educated in the regular education classroom
with their non-disabled peers. Education in regular education settings implies more than
just physical presence; it includes access to the curriculum that is taught in the regular
education classroom.
Students with disabilities are entitled under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution, federal civil rights law, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the Americans with Disabilities
Act, their respective state constitutions, and state law, to be free from discrimination
and to be provided equal educational opportunity to learn what all other students are
expected to learn. Indeed, the IDEA, Section 504, and the ADA all require, as they have
from their inception, that students with disabilities must be educated in regular
education settings to the maximum extent appropriate in light of their needs, and prohibit
their exclusion unless education there cannot be achieved satisfactorily even with
appropriate supplementary aids and services. Courts have recognized the rights of students
with disabilities to be educated in the regular education classroom with their peers
without disabilities under these laws. A school district proposing to remove a child from
the regular education classroom has the burden of proving that such removal - whether
partial or total – is necessary because education cannot be reasonably accomplished
with the use of supplementary aids and services and/or modifications to the regular
education curriculum.
Yet, despite clear legal rights and numerous judicial rulings, students with
disabilities continue to be isolated and separately educated, provided a diluted and
inferior education, and denied meaningful opportunities to learn. As recently as 1997, the
United States Congress in reauthorizing and amending the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, admitted in findings codified at 20 U.S.C. 1400(b)(4) that:
"...implementation of this Act has been impeded by low expectations, and an
insufficient focus on applying replicable research on proven methods of teaching and
learning for children with disabilities...." . This, in spite of more than 20 years
of research and experience providing evidence that the "education of children with
disabilities can be made more effective by having high expectations for such children and
ensuring their access to the general curriculum to the maximum extent possible."
20 U.S.C. 1400(c)(4).
Because of this long history of exclusion and discrimination, many students with
disabilities have been denied access to the general education curriculum, have been
excluded from the school they would attend if not for their disability, and have been
unnecessarily isolated from their age appropriate peers who are not disabled.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, THAT TASH, an international advocacy association of
people with disabilities, their family members, other advocates and people who work in the
disability field, affirms that all students with disabilities shall be provided a quality,
inclusive education that assures full and meaningful access to the general education
curriculum. To achieve such an education, support services must be provided as needed,
programs and curricula must be modified as needed, and students must receive such
supports, supplementary aids and services as are necessary in an inclusive setting. The
expectation shall be that every school community shall provide a quality, inclusive
education for all students with disabilities that is predicated on a shared vision of high
expectations for all students and a commitment to a set of learning goals or standards
that are strong, clear, understood, and put into practice.
Local, state, provincial, regional and federal governments, as well as all related
organizations, stand accountable for the development and maintenance of educational
opportunities for all students that are inclusive and ultimately effective. All
governments must be urged to enforce vigorously, at all levels, legislation that assures
quality, inclusive educational practices.
Fully inclusive schools are characterized by the following components which are
overwhelmingly supported by research and documented experience:
General Components
- A single set of standards that embraces all students; a broad umbrella of standards that
encompasses supplemental educational needs, including functional or independent living
skills;
- Teaching which uses heterogeneous groupings and a variety of age-appropriate
instructional strategies based upon students' learning needs and which emphasizes learning
strategies designed to enable students to meet the standards or components of the single
set of standards;
- High expectations for all students;
- Teachers who treat each student as a uniquely important individual and who are
knowledgeable about research based practices that assist students with diverse learning
needs to learn;
- Program philosophy which emphasizes the value of diversity, multiculturalism, social
justice, and belonging for everyone;
- Access for all students to campuses and classrooms, including co-curricular and
extra-curricular activities, that are free from prejudice and other physical and
psychological barriers;
- Comprehensive, sensible and culturally competent curricula which are effective for the
full range of learners; and,
- Opportunities for all secondary school students to participate in community and/or job
skill development programs which do not impact negatively on participation and full
membership in their high school community.
Assessment
- Thorough analysis of the learning needs of all students;
- Broad use of unbiased and culturally sensitive assessment procedures that enhance
students' strengths and assist in the identification of their needs;
- Accountability for achievement which is based, in part, on each student's personal
potential and educational experience;
- Full participation in all state or districtwide assessments to enable students with
disabilities to participate in the accountability system; and,
- Measuring whether schools and local educational agencies are making progress toward
enabling all students to meet challenging standards set for all students and holding
schools and districts accountable, in part, through public reporting requirements.
Communication
Emphasis on the importance of family involvement and home-school communication
structures that are culturally responsive and which empower families;
- Conscious creation of a strong sense of community and fostering mutual respect and
support among education staff, parents, and students;
- Collaboration among teachers, other personnel, family members, students and peers to
plan and deliver educational services; and,
- Well-delineated processes for problem-solving as defined by the family, student and
classmates.
Staff Development
- Teacher training programs at the inservice and preservice levels that are inclusive and
collaborative of general and special education teachers so that all teachers will be
prepared to teach all students effectively;
- Appropriate staff development programs for administrators, teachers, family members,
paraprofessionals, and related services staff which will develop the necessary
understandings, skills and behaviors; and,
- Professional development designed to ensure that teachers of students with disabilities
are knowledgeable about research based practices for effectively teaching students to high
standards.
Supports
- Provision of all necessary and appropriate supports and services to provide all students
with opportunities for success;
- Access to curriculum accommodations and modifications which allow students to access
core curriculum and assessment and accountability systems;
- A broad range of personal support services (e.g. speech, reading, occupational therapy)
which are closely coordinated with the general education classroom's goals and activities
and which are provided in general education settings;
- Instructional and assistive technologies that foster self-determination, participation,
and choice;
- Creative ways to allocate special and general education resources, with funding
obstacles removed; and,
- The use of positive behavioral supports that are based on functional assessment of
problem behavior.
Adopted December 1988
Revised December 1993
Revised March 2000
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