A Comparison of “Inclusiveness” in Two Liberal Arts Catholic Universities

The Catholic Church has been a major player in the field of education, both nationally and internationally. Numerous religious orders, such as the Jesuits, Felicians, created higher education institutions. Such institutions afforded college education to first-generation students and were a ladder for upward mobility. A perception lingers of Catholic institutions being an exemplar of Christian values of love, acceptance and social justice. In reality, some institutions are far more successful in actualizing those values. This chapter looks retrospectively at Madonna University and compares it to John Carroll University to highlight differences in how each has dealt with the issue of inclusiveness. While each of the institutions is a single instance within the Catholic higher education community, there are still lessons we may take from this examination that intersect with issues related to religion, gender and inclusiveness.

An Integral Analysis of Labeling, Inclusion, and the Impact of the K-12 School Experience on Gifted Boys

Gifted learners are frequently marginalized in community classrooms, as they are placed in competition for special education support, with the students who struggle to meet the minimal curricular demands. In this chapter, we describe the practices of identifying and labelling gifted boys, from the perspective of gifted boys attending high school and from the perspectives of a school system. The case discussed is a large urban public school system, which endeavours to effectively identify gifted students and provide them with learner-centred learning environments. We use Wilber's (2000, 2006) Integral model as a conceptual framework to analyze the findings from an empirical study of gifted boys' school experiences (Alisat, 2013). These findings are also supported by our critical praxis, observing and conversing with gifted young people. The Integral Model is a useful framework for understanding the multiple factors impacting gifted students' daily experiences, engagement and achievement.

Assessing the Functions of Behavior for Students with Autism in the Inclusive Classroom Environment

Over the last decade, there has been a significant increase in the identification of students with Autism. According to research and the laws that guide Special Education, inclusive settings benefit both students with and without disabilities. However, teaching students with Autism in inclusive settings can bring about challenges, as teachers are responsible to effectively manage academic and social behaviors. Years of research support the evidence that behaviors do not occur in isolation and behaviors serve a function, even those that are deemed as socially maladaptive. Today's classroom teachers need the tools necessary to identify the function of the student behavior so that appropriate strategies can be applied. Based on the evidence, these strategies can be used to target and transform socially significant behaviors required for successful inclusion and optimized independence.

Cultivating Communities of Inclusive Practice

Significant disparities in educational outcome, opportunity, and achievement endure for students with disabilities and those from culturally and linguistically diverse groups. A need for effective, responsive, and inclusive practices in schools is imperative. Educators are at the heart of providing the challenging, responsive education that each child and adolescent deserves. Professional development is the lever of change, but can or help or hinder educators in improving instructional and school practices that result in improved outcomes for all students. This chapter examines the evidence base surrounding professional development and inclusive practice. Four approaches to professional development supporting more transformative professional learning and change are featured: inquiry groups (teacher study groups and lesson study); coaching, Professional Learning Communities; and Professional Development Schools. Snapshots to practice are included with each approach to provide integrated descriptive examples of varied inclusive professional development practices.

Equity and Inclusion in Today's Diverse and Inclusive 21st Century Classroom

This chapter shares the odyssey of one African-American teacher educator at a predominately white institution in a diverse learner's course fostering culturally responsive pre-service teachers with the tools to provide culturally responsive instruction for today's diverse and inclusive 21st century classroom. Early on in this journey, the instructor found that resistance, fear, and anxiety often ruled student perception of diverse learners in the inclusive classroom. Therefore, through action research the African-American teacher educator collected data, and subsequently planned, implemented, and monitored various actions designed to lessen pre-service teacher resistance, anxiety, and fear of student diversities in the classroom while fostering culturally responsive teachers for the diverse and inclusive 21st century classroom. Ultimately, these experiences mitigated the fears and concerns of preservice teachers around the enormity of diversities in the classroom and equipped them with tools for success.

Educating Students with Chronic Illness

Students with chronic illness have historically received an education via home and hospital instruction during their absences. This instruction is significantly inferior in both quality and quantity when compared with the educational experience of students able to attend school. This case study details the experiences of a middle school student in the mid-Atlantic Region of the United States whose chronic illness presented unique and multifaceted challenges that could not be met by her district's inflexible policies and disconnected resources. This case illuminates the need for schools to break away from the traditional administrative special education mold when responding to the challenges of educating frequently absent students with chronic illness. The educational Civil Rights of these students can be preserved, however, by utilizing affordable, available technology to minimize the impact of frequently missed classes, provide continuity of instruction and allow educational access regardless of a student's physical location during their absences from school.

Beyond Handicap, Pity, and Inspiration

Individuals with disabilities represent a substantial portion of the U.S. population and workforce. Yet, disability is often not meaningfully included in diversity and inclusion efforts in the workplace or in higher education. This chapter focuses on ten misperceptions that have fueled the marginalization of disability in diversity and inclusion efforts. These ten misperceptions revolve around a range of issues: Legal, human and practical. We provide an overview of each misperception and discuss implications for diversity and workforce development practitioners, with a focus on higher education settings. In conclusion, we urge readers to consider their own organizations in light of each of these ten misperceptions.

Leveraging Professional Development to Prepare General and Special Education Teachers to Teach within Response to Intervention Frameworks

This chapter examines the role professional development (PD) plays in preparing teachers to teach within Response to Intervention (RTI) frameworks, and how future PD efforts might be leveraged to strengthen the preparation of general and special education teachers to coordinate instruction and teach more effectively within multi-tiered instructional systems. This chapter highlights two PD approaches that directly address these issues. Prime Online and Project InSync are two PD innovations that have specifically addressed how PD can be designed to support general and special education teachers in deepening their shared knowledge and improving their ability to enact coordinated instruction across instructional tiers within RTI frameworks.

Creating Inclusive Classroom

From the 1980s, there are three steps to understand and adopt the inclusive education belief and theory in China. In today's Chinese schools, the typical inclusive education is implemented at the classroom level, but with unique context and content compared with the practices in the Western world. Banzhuren, a very special role in Chinese school, has witnessed the development of each child and plays a very important role in student development. Banzhuren creates the inclusive atmosphere for all students, engages every student in the classroom-based activities, and works with other teachers and parents to develop the classroom community. Authors surveyed students in two classes on their experience, values, understanding and expectation on inclusive education in the classroom. Based on the data, the authors found that the banzhurens involved have fulfilled their potentials to achieve the inclusive classroom by multiple ways. The authors discussed the practical application, the limitations of the research, and future research directions about the inclusive classroom in China as well.

Data System-Embedded Analysis Support's Implications for Latino Students and Diverse Classrooms

Urban school populations are particularly diverse, requiring teachers to see to a broad spectrum of student needs. Latinos are the largest and fastest growing racial/ethnic minority group of students in the U.S., and the majority of Latino students live in urban areas. Data can be a powerful tool when used by teachers to target specific student needs, especially those of subgroups with a history of academic struggle. Latino students are commonly featured in not just one, but three large subgroups that typically struggle academically when compared to peers outside these subgroups: the Hispanic, Socio-economically Disadvantaged, and English Learner subgroups. It is vital teachers use data to better understand and meet these students' needs. However, such data use can only benefit students if teachers understand its meaning and implications. This chapter highlights study findings that can significantly improve teachers' ability to use data to help Latinos and other students in diverse classrooms.