A lack of resources has placed a considerable burden on teachers and school boards, who are often unprepared and suffer from stress and frustration, affecting the success of programs.
In the late 1960s, almost 200,000 people with significant disabilities lived in state institutions that provided basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing.
[2] A few US states began to pass legislation that allowed, but did not require, school districts to begin educating students with certain types of disabilities.
In the 1950s, Edward H. Stullken, president and member of the Illinois Council of Exceptional Children,[3] began to question the need to segregate students with disabilities from the public schools.
[4] After a successful court case in Pennsylvania, the state law was changed to acknowledge that it had the obligation to provide a free, appropriate education regardless of the disability.
[4] The 1975 EAHCA, and its 1986 and 1992 amendments, guaranteed educational rights from any institution receiving funding, and encouraged states to develop programs for individuals with disabilities.
The goal is for the teacher to teach each student with similar effort, so that the nature of disability does not become disruptive to the operation of the class.
[citation needed] Where students in a given class are accessing curriculum at different levels of rigor, Differentiated instruction is crucial to the successful operation of an inclusive classroom.
[10] Research shows that students performed higher when the paraprofessional was trained in inclusive classroom management.
As English-language learners work on skills to become fluent in English, they also become an important focus of inclusive classrooms.
Community-referenced instruction, a curriculum approach that allows educators to design lessons with multiple roles, challenges, and opportunities for learning, is a tool used to benefit all students in inclusive classrooms.
[18] Work experiences, research terms, and service learning are some examples of instruction within these inclusive classrooms.
[18] According to 20 USC § 7801(27), "gifted and talented" students are those who give evidence of high achievement capability – in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields – and who need services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities.
[19] Institutional shortcomings, such as poor curriculums, unrelatable teachers, and general opportunity gaps, are believed to be the reasoning behind urban school students' underperformance.
[21] In the case of inclusive teaching, a general teacher usually does not have the skill nor the understanding that is needed to relate to students with disabilities.
An IEP may determine the proper placement of a student in inclusive education through tests, studies, and interviews with counselors and family members.
[26] To further, it is argued that the movement for fully inclusive classrooms priorities group values and ideologies over evidence.
[28] Findings of a paper published in Learning Environments Research suggest that educators who were receptive and assumed direct authority had a better chance of achieving success.
Students with severe, sensory, or multiple impairments may be less likely to receive appropriate educational services in an inclusive classroom, regardless of teacher attitude.
While professional development workshops are found to positively impact teachers' abilities to teach student with specific learning difficulties, they are not always offered.
[25] In addition to frustration, teachers' feelings of fear are linked to not knowing "how best to incorporate students with disabilities into the regular education environment",[25] which serves as a barrier in preventing "full inclusion".