High Standards for Pupils With Disabilities, Too.

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing."

Albert Schweitzer 

As I travel across the country visiting schools and school districts to see what works in educating children with disabilities, I have developed my own personal predictor for success: Where school leaders show commitment to educating all children with an expectation for high outcomes, that goal is being achieved.

Here is what I have seen: In schools with principals committed to higher standards for all students, children and youth with disabilities are being included in ways that benefit them and their classmates. Districts where superintendents value a higher degree of teacher satisfaction are the same districts where teachers are productively involved in all aspects of the education of children with disabilities.

Schools with principals who recognize the value of coupling special education's historic emphasis on individually designed instructional strategies with regular education's strong emphasis on curriculum delivery have classrooms where all children are learning to higher academic standards.

And in communities with school leaders who promote strong family-school connections--leaders who demonstrate their commitment to all families by making their schools accessible so that disabled parents can fully participate in activities--outcomes for children with disabilities are improving.

Where commitment at the top exists, I hear a common refrain from parents, students, teachers, and support personnel. In this time of unprecedented change in education systems and practices, they believe inclusion is the most valuable change that has occurred in their school.

They certainly see the benefit for disabled students. Beyond that, and contrary to some of the current rhetoric in the education community, they also see how other students--including some who are considered at risk themselves--benefit from sharing the educational experience with their schoolmates who have disabilities and end up exceeding adults' expectations about their own behavior and academic progress.

Although limited research has been done in this area, some findings show equivalent or better achievement test performance among children who have had classmates with significant disabilities.

In addition to the inventory of benefits I hear as I visit schools, we know from our own extensive longitudinal study that long-term outcomes often are better for students with disabilities who have spent more time in regular education programs. They are more likely to be employed, to earn higher salaries, and to participate fully in their communities.

In spite of this, only 1.6 million of the nation's 5 million identified disabled students are receiving their education in regular classrooms. A country with a 38 percent school dropout rate overall for disabled youth and a 70 percent unemployment rate for disabled adults (despite the fact that eight out of 10 unemployed working-age disabled adults want to work), must find ways to prepare its disabled children for more productive futures.

Not every student can be expected to achieve the same goals, but all students can learn to higher academic standards. For many more students with disabilities, that can be accomplished in the regular classroom.

From Massachusetts to Texas and from Kentucky to Colorado, I have seen successes in every state I've visited. In every case, leadership has been the key.