Lead an identity safe learning community where students of all backgrounds thrive Students of all backgrounds reach their full potential when they feel a sense of belonging and inclusion. When their social identities are valued as assets rather than barriers to learning, they flourish. This guide provides evidence-based strategies that support you as a leader in creating an environment that promotes identity safe students, who experience a challenging curriculum that respects their diverse social identities. Features in the book include: Guiding principles for student voice, equalizing status and cultivating acceptance across race, ethnicity, gender and other differences Ideas and examples for anti-racist dialogue and activities for teachers and students that counter colorblind practices, stereotype threat and biases Vignettes, and examples of identity safe practices for students and adult learning for staff, families and the community Systems for student-centered assessment and data collection Resources for developing equitable school policies and a comprehensive identity safety plan for your school Educators fulfill the promise of an equitable education when students of all backgrounds know that who they are and what they think matters. Start the journey to become an identity safe school and see the results for yourself! “Belonging and Inclusion in Identity Safe Schools: A Guide for Educational Leaders is a timely and important book. For several years, the nation′s schools have been asked to focus their energies on raising student achievement. However, too often educators have ignored the need to honor, support and affirm the identities of the students they serve. For educators who serve children of color, particularly Black, Native American and Latinx children who are often subject to overt and covert forms of forced assimilation, this book will be an invaluable resource on how to create learning opportunities that make it possible for such children to thrive.” ~Pedro Noguera, Dean of Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California “Bravo to authors Cohn-Vargas, Gogolewski, Creer Kahn, and Epstein for their ground-breaking book on Identify Safe Schools for Administrators and Teacher and Staff Leaders! They provide much-needed evidence for educators to elevate and even inspire the equity, empowerment, and academic growth needed to wholly support all children to flourish in school and their lives.” ~Debbie Zacarian, Director, Zacarian and Associates

To create truly inclusive school and classroom environments, educators must be prepared to include all students--including students with intellectual disabilities, who are not always given the opportunity to be full participants in the classroom. This book provides an overview of the history of inclusion, the philosophy underlying inclusion, and the role that curriculum accommodations and modifications play in making inclusion possible. The author discusses four ways to modify curriculum for students working well below grade level: altering content, conceptual difficulty, educational goals, or instructional methods. She then provides 40 curriculum modification strategies, based on Robert Marzano's New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, with directions for implementation and samples of student work.

Thoroughly updated to reflect the challenges of diversity in today’s schools, this new edition of Achievement and Inclusion in Schools shows how high levels of inclusion can be entirely compatible with high levels of achievement and that combining the two is not only possible but also essential if all students are to have the opportunity to participate fully in education. Each chapter has been fully revised to reflect an understanding of inclusion as being concerned with the learning and participation of everyone in a changing education policy context. Based on new case study research, this edition sets out to answer the following questions: Are there strategies which can raise the achievement of all students, while safeguarding the inclusion of others who are more vulnerable? How can schools ensure high levels of inclusion as well as high levels of achievement for everyone? How might research into these matters be carried out? With new case studies in this second edition that reflect the devolution of education policy in the four countries of the UK, this book addresses concerns about how schools can respond to differences between learners without marginalising some of them. It offers guidance to practitioners as well as those undertaking research on this important topic.

This book is a panoramic view of inclusive education, past, present, and future. Grounded in historical perspective and fueled by contemporary accomplishments, the insightful discussions in this volume cover a wide range of issues, from program implementation and classroom supports to court decisions and financing. The authors compare successes and setbacks from schools and studies nationwide, drawing the big picture of practice and research. Complementing their highly informed, balanced analysis of special education and inclusion programs are highlights of the results from a revealing national study of inclusive education. Emphasizing the need for the concurrent development of inclusion and school restructuring, this book gives policy makers, administrators, school board members, teachers and parents a solid understanding of the process of school reform, as well as a vision for the 21st century. - Back cover.

Inclusion is a buzzword of the 1990s. Politicians now stress their commitment to inclusion and social justice - not competition. For schools, inclusion means accepting and educating all children, irrespective of their difficulties. The new inclusive mood is about including everyone in society's institutions. It has created a growing demand for schools to find effective ways of including and teaching all children - even those who at one time would have been sent to special schools. The book combines a theoretical examination of inclusion and its rationale with the story of a group of schools in which teachers, assistants and children have striven to make inclusion happen. This new book * explores the arguments for inclusive schools * examines the international evidence about children's well-being and academic progress in inclusive schools * describes how the pioneers have developed their practice for inclusion * presents the findings of an in-depth 18 month study of a group of schools which have striven to make inclusion happen