Inclusive Services Supporting Student Improvement

We believe that to create true systems change, we need to target the way the entire school addresses the issue of inclusion. Improving outcomes for 40 students is a good model of how inclusion can work, but ifthere is to be long-term change for special education students after this project has ended, a school must change the way it addresses the issue of inclusion at all levels. The best chance of 'marketing' inclusion beyond the participating schools rests with demonstrating that inclusion positively impacts the performance of all students. A "systems change" approach will be implemented to achieve the performance targets for this proposal. A systems approach requires a vision of inclusive education services within the context of improving results for all students. Without a vision of improving results for all students, the inclusion of students with disabilities will continue to be episodic and haphazard and will never result in sustained change. Our "systems approach" includes the following: I) selection of the five model sites; 2) verification of results using Collaborative Action Research (Sagor, 1992; Calhoun, 1994); 3) assignment of a "critical friend" (Jorgensen, 1998; Sagor, 1992) to guide the action research process; 4) allocation of incentives and resources through training and technical assistance opportunities; 5) marketing the success of the product and process; and 6) replicating this process in five additional schools.