The IEP meeting that changed my understanding of equity and inclusion forever is one I will never forget. I remember the team being huge - the entire school team was there, along with family, a special education attorney, an independent inclusion specialist, and the school district’s attorney. A group the size of a football team was sitting in a large, unoccupied portable classroom arguing over whether a student was capable of being in a general education classroom. I was there, caught in a whirlpool of frustration and heartbreak, wondering how it came to that moment. The implicit conclusion was that inclusion was something “earned” and that the student somehow didn’t deserve it. The team had lost sight of the presuming competency and focused on the student’s deficits and delays in grade-level standards and needs in adaptive skills.
Let’s pause here for a moment. Inclusion is not a privilege. It is a right.
This is beautifully summed up by Ban Ki-moon, the former secretary-general of the United Nations: “Inclusive education is not a privilege. It is a fundamental human right.”
These clear yet simple words provide the power to change everything.
Inclusion in education is not only a “nice-to-have". It refers to a promise, one that is legal in nature and moral in its commitment toward every student who enters our school buildings.
This promise, in the United States, has three core tenets:
- IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)
- FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education)
- LRE (Least Restrictive Environment)
Let’s explain it intuitively and simply:
- IDEA: The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) serves as a federal law in the United States that ensures that children with disabilities are provided services across the country. More than 8 million infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities are eligible to receive services, be it early intervention, special education, and other education-related services, which state and public agencies are obliged to provide under the IDEA. (ed.gov)
- FAPE: A Free Appropriate Public Education or FAPE, is defined under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as providing regular or special education and related aids and services that meet the individual needs of students with disabilities as those needs are met for students without disabilities. (ed.gov)
- LRE: The Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) pertains to the education of children with disabilities in relation to their peers without disabilities. In this context, LRE signifies that children with disabilities are educated with their non-disabled peers to the greatest extent appropriate. Children with disabilities should not be placed in a special class, separate school, or other educational setting outside of the regular environment unless the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes, even with the use of aids and services, would not be achievable. (IDEA, 20 U.S.C. §1412 (a)(5)(A))
These aren’t just words on paper. They are the everyday promise we are called to live out through what I call the 4 C’s:
- Compassion grounds our purpose.
- Curiosity helps us question the status quo and embrace new ideas.
- Creativity sparks innovation in design.
- Collaboration sustains the journey together.
Access in Special vs. General Education: What the Data Tells us
As reported by the National Center for Education Statistics (2023)
- 67% of students with disabilities spend 80% or more of their day in general education classrooms.
- 16% spend 40 – 79% of their day in general education.
- 13% spend less than 40% of their day in general education.
Let’s reflect on that for a moment - this means that 1 in 3 students with disabilities are still spending a considerable amount of time outside of the general education setting. It is also true that inequities affect students even more deeply. Black, Hispanic, and Native American students with disabilities tend to be placed into more restrictive environments compared to their White counterparts (NCLD, 2020)
These facts are what keep me up at night. They expose a stark and painful reality, an injustice that demands urgency.
Universal Design for Learning and Co-Teaching Are the Bridge
So what can we do about it?
This is where Universal Design for Learning (UDL) becomes the answer. UDL is the blueprint—the how of inclusive education, and it is not merely a goal, it is a must-do.
When we proactively design learning through the UDL framework, we are not only ensuring we are supporting access to the least restrictive environment, but we are also creating learning environments where variability and flexibility are celebrated and innovation and creativity for all learners comes to life.
And co-teaching and specially designed instruction? That’s how we bring it to life when we have students who have significant support needs and receive special education services! The general and special education teachers collaborate to design, deliver, and reflect on teaching and learning together. It is shared ownership, shared goals, and shared responsibility for every learner. Co-teaching principles and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) are not add-ons. It is how we fulfill the promise of IDEA, FAPE, and LRE.
The reality is that we are focusing on the legal procedural safeguards for students with disabilities, as well as the teaching and learning frameworks. This can be daunting, but we don’t need to feel like we have to do this in isolation or a complete overhaul to our current teaching practices. We can start small - one flexible adjustment at a time.
5 Tips for Implementing UDL to Support LRE and All Learners
- Flexible Materials: Select an upcoming lesson and ask this question to yourself: “How can I create pathways for students to choose how they engage with the learning material?” For instance, students could watch a video, use text-to-speech, or a read-aloud for a self-directed text. Flexibility with materials may feel small, but it has a great impact.
- Choice Boards: Instead of a singular assignment such as a worksheet, let learners choose between 2-4 options. (Note: More options than this can actually be a barrier.) For instance, students could summarize their understanding through a drawing, drafting a textual summary, creating a video, or facilitating a discussion, all with the same standard or firm goal in mind. This change, honoring learner variability and supporting UDL, is a simple yet powerful shift.
- Remove Barriers: Answer these questions: What challenges will my students have within the lesson? What supports (sentence frames, visuals, manipulatives, peer partners) can be embedded prior to the lesson starting to remove or reduce those barriers? This is UDL at work, proactively designing to remove barriers from the very beginning, and I’m certain many of your students have these options as IEP accommodations. What’s beneficial for one child is often beneficial for all.
- Co-Teach: Meet with your co-teacher and select one model together (Station Teaching, One Teach, One Support). Inclusive education can become authentic when there is shared and planned instruction, even if it happens once a week through a small block of time, and bonus, it may be considered SDI as well as long as it is aligned to students’ IEP goals.
- Celebrate Learner Variability: To foster and build classroom communities, you must build an environment that celebrates students’ identities and backgrounds as assets and strengths. Include opportunities to reflect, share identities, and include joy. For example, “Friday Fun Fact” or “I Learn Best When…” allows students to appreciate the diversity of minds within the classroom.
Inclusive education is a civil right. Our duty? Learn, reflect, and protect it.
You might be asking, what was the result of the IEP meeting I shared at the beginning of the blog. It unfortunately resulted in loss of trust and relationships between the district and the family which has taken time to rebuild. Still, in the end, the student’s offer of FAPE included much more time in the general education classroom than was once considered. The school teams walked away with a stronger understanding of LRE and best practices to accomplish it. That, to me, is a win for all.
This work is messy but beautiful. It's more than compliance; it’s a commitment. And it’s constructed one lesson, one dialogue, one change at a time.
Reflection Questions: Move from Compliance to Commitment
So here is my challenge for you. Take a moment and think about:
- In what ways does your classroom, your school, or your system honor the promise of IDEA, FAPE, and LRE?
- Consider how you might implement UDL and co-teaching: where is the opportunity to make IDEA’s vision come to life every single day?
- Where might you redesign for the better, not because students need to ‘fit’ your lesson, but because your lesson has the capacity to flex for every learner?
- And how will you include the 4 C’s–Compassion, Curiosity, Creativity, Collaboration–into all your decisions?
Let’s get to work and build bridges towards inclusive and equitable education.
References
- National Center for Education Statistics (2023). Students With Disabilities. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgg/students-with-disabilities
- National Center for Learning Disabilities (2020). Disproportionality in Special Education. Retrieved from https://ncld.org
- CAST (n.d.). Research Evidence - The UDL Guidelines. Retrieved from https://udlguidelines.cast.org/more/research-evidence
- U.S. Department of Education. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Retrieved from https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/students-disabilities-laws-and-policy/osers-individuals-with-disabilities-education-act-idea-regulations-page
- U.S. Department of Education. Section 504 and Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). Retrieved from https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/civil-rights-laws/disability-discrimination/frequently-asked-questions-section-504-fape
- U.S. Department of Education. Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). Retrieved from https://sites.ed.gov/idea/statute-chapter-33/subchapter-II/1412
