Emergent Concepts of Inclusion in the Context of Committed School Leadership

Abstract

Inclusion of students with disabilities within general education settings is increasingly accepted as the desirable response of school systems to student learning differences. It has triggered districtwide reforms that are differentially enacted and realized within different schooling contexts. This study explores meanings of inclusion that were produced when three school leaders in a large urban school district adopted buildingwide initiatives to facilitate inclusion. We interviewed building leaders, families, and teachers within three public schools over a period of approximately 11 months. Data disclosed that the enactment of initiatives at each school reflected particular understandings of disability as well as relations with teachers and families. Our analysis showed that schoolwide commitments to inclusion can simultaneously produce forms of exclusion, erase dis/ability as a form of diversity, and neglect to understand parents and families as “experts” on their children. We argue that the structural implementation of inclusion premised on placement of students with disabilities in a general education setting leaves intact and unquestioned school-based norms of ability that render both students and families as lacking.