Inclusive Education

TASH advocates for full membership, relationships, participation and learning for all students with disabilities within inclusive general education classes.

TASH values and supports diversity in the classroom and the community. We recognize the fundamental legal right to and the reciprocal benefits of inclusive education for students with and without disabilities.  True inclusive education is one that can be achieved in the general education classroom where students with disabilities are learning the general education curriculum alongside their same-age peers without disabilities.

Education in general education classrooms involves more than simply physical presence; it includes access to the curriculum. Students with disabilities are entitled to be free from discrimination and to be provided equal opportunity to learn what all other students are expected to learn. These rights are ensured under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, federal civil rights law, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, their respective state constitutions, and state law.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, require that students with disabilities be educated in regular education classrooms to the maximum extent appropriate in light of their needs. Despite clear legal rights and numerous judicial rulings on the matter, students with disabilities continue to be isolated and separately educated, provided a diluted and inferior education, and denied meaningful opportunities to learn. TASH and its supporters actively seek to transform school communities based on social justice principles in which all students:

Are presumed competent;

Are welcomed as valued members of all general education classes and extra-curricular activities in their local schools;

Fully participate and learn alongside their same-age peers in general education instruction based on the general curriculum; and,

Experience reciprocal social relationships.

TASH Inclusive Education Resolutions

Quality Inclusive Education

Post Secondary Education

Educating Young Children with Significant Disabilities

Paraeducator Employment, Roles, Preparation and Supervision

Teacher Education

Related Services

Preparation of Related Services Personnel for Work in Educational Settings

Additional Resources

Frequently Asked Questions about Inclusive Education. These questions are those most frequently asked by parents, professionals, and community members and the answers are meant to be brief, to the point, not all encompassing.

The National Center on Inclusive Education, part of the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability

Kids Together is staffed entirely by parent volunteers and includes information on the moral, civil, parental and legal right to inclusive education.

TASH: What the Research Says: Inclusive Education Achieves Results

TASH: Q &A on Inclusive Education

TASH Policy Recommendations for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services provides a wide array of supports to parents and individuals, school districts and states.

Read the Obama administration’s blueprint for revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known as No Child Left Behind.

The Beach Center on Disability provides information and resources focusing on access to the general curriculum, self-determination, positive behavior support, school-wide reform, technology use and deaf-blindness.

The Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education is a statewide nonprofit dedicated to the inclusion of students with disabilities in their neighborhood schools.

The National School Boards Association has provided a downloadable administrator’s guide for addressing the over-representation of African American students in special education.

If you have any questions about TASH’s position or involvement on issues related to inclusive education, be sure to contact us.