Strategies for Developing Inclusive Practices in Small, Rural Schools

Abstract

This article showcases several small, rural schools in Wisconsin who have made a commitment to utilizing inclusive school practices. By re-aligning current building-based resources in innovative ways, the professionals in these four schools have designed unique inclusive education models and practices that respond to the educational needs of a diverse range of learners. This article describes four successful rural school inclusion models in detail. These rural school inclusion models focus on: (a) scheduling for cross-categorical programming, (b) including students with challenging behaviors, (c) co-teaching, and (d) practicing inclusive education in a rural high school. Other small, rural schools who are moving towards inclusion, will benefit from the discussed experiences these models encountered during the re-alignment of their resources.