Best Practices for the Inclusive Classroom -- a Review

Best Practices for the Inclusive Classroom, edited by Richard T. Boon and Vicky G. Spencer, is an outstanding resource for both general and special education teachers, especially for settings where a special educator is either co-teaching with a general education teacher, or “pushing in,” coming into a general education room and providing special education services to individual children.

Inclusion, the practice of placing children of diverse abilities, from the learning and physically disabled to the gifted in the same classroom, has become the expected norm for schools across the country with the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) in 2004. The idea of LRE , or Least Restrictive Environment, is the legal underpinning of inclusion. Least Restrictive Environment lays out the expectation that children will receive appropriate instruction in their neighborhood school in a general education classroom. The challenges of providing the whole range of appropriate instruction are daunting.

Chapters 4 and 5 address important management issues for the inclusive classroom: collaboration and classroom management. The chapter on collaboration offers excellent resources for teachers working together in co-teaching situations, as well as offering different models for collaboration. The resources include forms for evaluation of current practices and collaborative planning. The chapter on classroom management has excellent strategies, including Positive Behavior Supports, the Color Wheel Behavior Plan, Positive Peer Reporting, and Check in and Check Out.

Chapters 6 through 8 address literacy, including reading instruction for the English Language Learner. These chapters are perhaps the weakest part of the book, but only because this curricular area is so broad, so important and there are so many strategies that could not be addressed within the scope of this book.

Chapters 9 through 11 address Math, Social Studies and Science, and provide strategies to help with differentiation across abilities. Each is short, but offer different and new ways to support learning across abilities, especially for the disabled learner.

Chapters 12 through 14 wrap up some important topics for inclusion: Assessment, Assistive Technology and “culturally responsive teaching practices.” Assessment is a necessary part of data driven educational practices. For many general education teachers, an inclusive classroom may be the first time they encounter assistive technology, so this chapter is helpful for them. The final chapter would be a great resource for teachers working in inner city schools where many different cultures meet.

My Recommendation

This is definitely a book for a special educator's bookshelf. The chapter on classroom management is worth the whole price of the book, though it is rich in other areas as well.

Personally, if I am asked to teach a class on inclusion, this will be my textbook. The contributions are well written, based on research and offer clear documentation of their claims. It is a well wrought blend of scholarship and practical information.