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From Special Education Teacher to Inclusion Facilitator

Role Revelations and Revolutions

Mary C. Schuh and Cheryl M. Jorgensen

The role of the special education teacher has changed dramatically since the 1980s. The focus of educational law and practice concerning students with disabilities has shifted from gaining student access to education to improving student academic results, as measured in part by their progress within the general education curriculum and their membership in general education classrooms (Hardman & Nagle, 2004; Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 [PL 105-17]). As a result of this shift, special education teachers are being required to assume different and more comprehensive responsibilities (Lipsky & Gartner, 1997). Despite this change in the role of the special educator, few teacher education programs have been on the forefront or have even kept up with this trend. Although the ability of educators to teach all students well has become a rhetorical high ground, this goal has yet to be reflected in traditional general or special teacher education programs (Brownell, Rosenberg, Sindelar, & Smith, 2004). Thus, there is a need to define roles, responsibilities, and titles that bridge the gap between changing expectations and the way that special educators are being prepared. This chapter will describe areas in which the special educator’s role has changed most dramatically, including

EVOLUTION OF A NEW ROLE

Throughout the years, efforts to include all students into the general education setting have been known by many names. Mainstreaming was the term used in the mid-1970s to describe the practice of having students with disabilities receive most of their education in separate classes, although part of their school day was spent in general education classes such as art, music, and physical education. Integration was coined in the late 1970s to describe the practice in which students with disabilities were full-time members of general education classes, even if they continued to learn from a different curriculum and had different expectations. Today, inclusion is defined as the practice of educating all students in general education classes, including those students with the most significant disabilities, with support being provided to enable both students and teachers to be successful. Many people who are trained as professional special education teachers experience a contradiction between their academic preparation and what is expected of them in the field. In the past, early definitions of best practices included community-based functional skills programs, individualized education programs (IEPs) that emphasized therapeutic interventions, pseudofriendship programs such as peer buddies, and segregated classrooms. Today, best practices for students with disabilities demand that teachers acquire a different set of skills during their initial and continuing professional education, such as strategies for teaching all students literacy skills, creating socially just school communities, facilitating authentic friendships, embedding service learning into the curriculum for all students, being accountable for every student’s achievement, and promoting inclusion in general education (Jorgensen, 2003). For many special educators, moving from special education to general education is as awkward as visiting another country without knowing the language or the cultural expectations.

The authors of this book searched for special educators who have experienced this educational and cultural change firsthand, making the transition from teaching in self-contained classrooms to supporting students with disabilities to become fully participating members of the general education classroom and school. One indicator of this transition is the introduction of a new job title and role for many special educators: inclusion facilitator. An Internet search of the term inclusion facilitator produced more than 1,000 references. Schools and school districts across the country have developed new job titles to describe those teachers who facilitate the inclusion of students with disabilities into general education settings. These titles consist of inclusion facilitator, inclusion teacher, integration facilitator, inclusion support teacher, inclusion specialist, learning specialist, and inclusion consultant, among others. In addition, many other teachers, such as life skills teachers, resource teachers, educational liaisons, and special education teachers, fulfill the role of facilitating inclusion, even though their job titles do not use the term inclusion facilitator.

Regardless of the job title or position description, this new role requires significant changes, especially for those teachers whose previous duties primarily involved teaching students in “special,” self-contained classrooms.

Evolution of Position Responsibilities, Knowledge Needed, and Job Titles

The evolution of job titles and responsibilities related to the practice of including all students in general education settings is similar across school districts. The interviews revealed that educators who work as inclusion facilitators—no matter what their title—must develop a wide range of knowledge in addition to educational, administrative, and communication skills. Because contemporary position responsibilities have expanded across a number of skill sets and fluctuate daily, inclusion facilitators must also be able to respond to change flexibly, quickly, creatively, and competently.

Biographical Information
Inclusion facilitators are known by different titles, and the interviewees shared diverse experiences related to their current role expectations.

Elaine Dodge
On leave from her school position and currently working as Distinguished Educator for the New Hampshire Department of Education. Elaine travels around the state providing training and technical assistance to teams who are developing students’ alternate assessment portfolios. When she first entered the profession, she taught at a segregated school for students with disabilities. For the last 20 years, however, she has worked in public schools supporting the inclusion of students with significant disabilities. When Elaine worked as the inclusion facilitator at Moultonborough Academy, New Hampshire, her title was Life Skills Teacher. Working with approximately eight students, all with varying needs, Elaine’s job required her to wear many professional hats. Her students varied in age and grade level, disability label, and the priority of their educational goals.

Sandy Hunt
Sandy has been a special educator for 27 years, including her current position as an elementary school inclusion coordinator. She taught for many years at Mt. Lebanon School, in Lebanon, New Hampshire, which pioneered inclusion in New Hampshire in the 1980s. Sandy now supports 25 students with significant disabilities in four different schools. Sandy’s position responsibilities include providing support to general education teachers, serving as the team leader to plan and implement student supports, serving as home–school liaison, and evaluating and supervising paraprofessionals.

Catherine Lunetta
Before getting her master’s degree in education, Catherine worked for more than 20 years as a social worker. Her current title is Special Education Liaison, and her responsibilities are wide-ranging. She is the administrator who coordinates the development of students’ IEPs and their initial and 3-year evaluations, and she facilitates team meetings for a variety of purposes.

Frank Sgambati
Frank has had a long and productive career in special education. He began his career as an assistant teacher of children with significant disabilities. In 1991, Frank worked as an inclusion facilitator in the Kearsarge Regional School District; from 1995 until the present, he has been a technical assistance consultant with the Institute on Disability supporting local schools’ capacities to educate all children within inclusive general education settings.

Knowledge and Skills

When students were first included in general education classrooms, most parents and educators were content if students were invited to birthday parties, received telephone calls from classmates, and were generally accepted into the classroom community (Falvey, 1995; Strully & Strully, 1989). Increasingly, however, all concerned individuals are paying greater attention to students’ learning, including the development of literacy skills such as reading, writing, and technology use, and the acquisition of core academic knowledge (Erickson, Koppenhaver, Yoder, & Nance, 1997; McSheehan, Sonnenmeier, & Jorgensen, 2002; Wehmeyer, Sands, Knowlton, & Kozleski, 2002). Thus, inclusion facilitators must have demonstrated competence in general education, special education, and a variety of facilitation skills (e.g., consulting, mediation, coaching) to be successful in their roles. Each inclusion facilitator interviewed expressed frustration about his or her preservice education. They recommended that undergraduate and graduate programs provide future special education teachers with a clearer understanding about their roles and the experience and educational background needed to work in the field.

Advocacy and Schoolwide Leadership

Inclusion facilitators are teachers who emerged within the larger context of teaching for social justice, in which teaching is viewed as a moral profession requiring skills of change agentry and leadership rather than those of a mere technician (Fullan, 1993).

Liaison Between School, Home, and the Community

Strong relationships between schools, families, and the larger community offer opportunities for greater connectedness; an expanded understanding of resources available to support students, families, and schools; and an increased likelihood for successful transitions between school and home and ultimately to adult life.

Creating Sustainability

The interviewees provided many recommendations about what it takes to sustain inclusive learning environments. According to Elaine, Sandy, Catherine, and Frank, maintaining an inclusive learning environment requires

SUSTAINING THE INCLUSION FACILITATOR’S ENERGY AND COMMITMENT BY CELEBRATING SUCCESS

Although the role evolution for inclusion facilitators has not always been easy, celebrating successes is a positive way to maintain one’s energy and commitment.

Conclusion

Although the job title of inclusion facilitator is meant to describe a laudable goal—supporting all students to be successful in the general education classroom and school community—the word inclusion has taken on a negative connotation for some people. Language has the power to unite or divide. It can move people forward or backward in the effort to achieve promising practices for students with disabilities.