DIMENSIONS KEY TERMS DESCRIPTION/SUPPORTING FACTORS &

STATEMENTS CONSIDERATIONS
1. A Sense of acceptance, belonging, • Every student is valued • Promotes an
Community and Social enjoyment, freedom, and nurtured. environment in which all
Acceptance friendship, safety, • Students with special members are seen as
valuing needs are truly included in equal, all have the
their classroom communities opportunity to
only when they are appreciated contribute, and all
by their teachers and socially contributions are
accepted by their classmates. respected.
• Caring and
nurturing places.
• Diversity is being
valued.
• The needs of all
students should be
addressed.
• Teacher’s critical
role that includes teacher
attitude, teacher
expectations, teacher
competence, teacher
collaborative skills, and
teacher support.
• Are students with
disabilities
disproportionately teased
by other students?
• Do students with
disabilities seem to enjoy
being in the general
education classroom?
• Do students
without disabilities
voluntarily include
students with disabilities
in various activities?
• Do students
without disabilities seem
to value the ideas and
opinions of students with
disabilities? And the
other way around?
• Do students with
disabilities consider the
general education
classroom to be their
“real class”? Do they
consider the teacher to be
one of their “real
teachers”?
2. An Appreciation appreciation, • Diversity simply means • A teacher needs
of Student Diversity differences, recognizing the group of to understand each
opportunities, individual differences that we individual in the
recognizing, sensitive see in our students. classroom.
• Students learn • Teachers must be
tolerance and the ability to sensitive to the cultural,
accept differences in each community, and family
other, as well as having values that can have an
opportunities to benefit from impact on a student’s
cooperative learning and other experience.
alternative instructional • Racial and ethnic
strategies. diversity
• Gender and
sexual orientation
• Religious
 diversity
• Physical, learning,
and intellectual
differences
• Linguistic
differences
• Behavior and
personality diversity
3. Attention to curriculum, needs, • “What the student • If the individual
Curricular Needs student’s learning needs to learn?” curricular needs of a
• Teachers must student are not being
seriously look at the met, the curriculum must
curriculum and ask what be modified or the
students are learning and how educational placement
students with disabilities can must be reexamined.
access the curriculum. • A student’s
learning and life needs
should always be the
driving force in
programmatic efforts and
decisions.
• Curricular
concerns: (1) content that
is meaningful to students
in a current and future
sense, and (2)
approaches and materials
that work best for them.
4. Effective classroom management, Four elements provided by • Effective
Management and techniques and teacher to meet the wide range classroom management is
Instruction strategies, support of needs of students: required if students are
to benefit from any form
• Successful Classroom of instruction, especially
Management – including in inclusive classrooms
physical, procedural, where students display a
instructional, and behavior wide range of diversity.
management.

• Effective Instructional • Teachers must

Techniques – key elements of feel comfortable using a
effective instructional practice: wide variety of
daily review, specific instructional techniques
techniques for presenting new to meet the needs of
information, guided practice, diverse classrooms.
independent practice, and
formative evaluation.

• Appropriate • The use of

Accommodative Practices – assistive technology.
“supported education”;
supports include
accommodations and
modifications to enhance
learning and acceptance in the
general education curriculum.

• Instructional Flexibility • The ability to

– must be able to handle respond to unexpected
behavior problems, provide and changing situations
extra support during to support students with
instruction, modify assessment special needs.
techniques, and orchestrate
social interactions.
5. Personnel collaboration, general • Students with special
Support and and special education, needs require personnel
Collaboration support, teachers supports to allow them to
benefit from placement in
inclusive settings.
• Collaboration occurs
when more than one person
works voluntarily toward a
common goal, frequently
related to the success of
students.

Types of Collaborative Efforts:

o Collaboration- o A critical skill in

Consultation – general collaboration is effective
education teacher requests the communication.
services of the special
education teacher to help
generate ideas for addressing
an ongoing situation.

o Co-Teaching – general o It requires

and special education teachers extensive planning.
work together in providing o Co-teachers
direct service to students. perform many tasks
jointly, including
planning and teaching,
developing instructional
accommodations,
monitoring and
evaluating students, and
communicating student
progress.
o Co-teaching
requires individuals who
are willing to give up
some control and accept
positive, constructive
criticism from colleagues.

o Teacher Assistance o Provide a forum

Teams – teams provide support where problems are
to general education teachers. raised and discussed, and
solutions are developed.
o Enables educators
to bring a diverse set of
skills and experience to
bear on specific
problems.

o Peer Support Systems – o Students with

two general education teachers disabilities in general
work together to identify education classrooms
effective solutions to classroom receive social or
situations. instructional help from
their nondisabled peers.