Inclusion Initiative, New
York City
The Inclusion Initiative (formerly called the Early Childhood Initiative) in New York City is an early childhood and elementary program that combines general education students and children with special needs in the same classroom. Funded by New Visions for Public Schools, the program emphasizes team teaching of special education and general education teachers, heterogeneous mixing of students, developmentally appropriate practice, authentic assessment, parent and family involvement in children's learning, and professional development. In addition to combining early childhood education and special education, some of the classrooms taking part in the initiative also are bilingual.
The overall goal of the program, according to Rodriguez (1997), is "to create child-centered learning environments that encourage early school successes for all students and to eliminate tracking that occurs as children with diverse strengths and needs progress through the city school system" (p. 1). She adds that the program model includes "not only the full range of general education students--from struggling to excelling students--but also students with a wide range of special education designations--from mild to severe" (p. 2). The special-needs students are fully integrated into the classroom with its challenging curriculum and high standards. In each classroom, the use of team teaching (a general education teacher and a special education teacher), a classroom assistant or paraprofessional, and smaller class size allows the teachers to provide individualized attention to each student.
Rodriguez (1997) describes the class sizes and student-teacher ratios:
"In grades pre-K through third grade, the general education class size has been reduced from a student-teacher ration of 25:1 to 16-18:1. Since special education class sizes are determined by severity of label, a combination of six students with diverse labels--from mild language delay to autism or severe emotional disturbance--allows for a special education teacher and paraprofessional on each teaching team.
In grades four and five, [Inclusion Initiative] classrooms enroll 28 general education students and eight students with special education needs. As in the earlier grades, a general education teacher teams with a special education teacher and a paraprofessional in managing the classroom and instructing students.
In the bilingual [Inclusion Initiative] program, the teachers (regular and special education), as well as some related-services providers such as speech and language therapists and guidance counselors, must be bilingual and are required to have the bilingual certification extension." (p. 3)
The program, notes Rodriguez (1997), assumes that "addressing the unique and individual learning needs of all young children in integrative, not segregated, classrooms where developmentally appropriate practices are applied will prevent or diminish barriers to successful learning" (p. 1).
