Many parents think the terms “mainstreaming” and “inclusion” mean the same thing. In the San Francisco Bay Area, they do not.
What is “mainstreaming”?
“Mainstreaming” is the term that most districts use to describe the selective placement of special education students in one or more “regular” education classes. Mainstreaming proponents generally require a student “earn” his or her opportunity to be mainstreamed. The student must show the ability to “keep up” with the work the teacher assigns to the other students in the class.
This definition and concept are closely linked to traditional special education service delivery, where the student’s case manager is his or her special education teacher and Special Day Class (SDC) is the student’s placement. Many students in mainstreaming experience being sent back to their SDC classes for any number of reasons. These often have nothing to do with the student, but are based on staffing and other issues unrelated to the child. The student’s primary peers and role models are other students in their SDC class.
How do districts implement it?
We’ve met with parents whose district assured them that their son was receiving mainstreaming. In this case, the child was using the same playground and lunch area as the typical children. This isn’t uncommon—many districts put regular education and special education students on the playground at the same time and call it “mainstreaming.” We call it “inclusion by air.” This student was on the playground and eating lunch only at times when there were no typical peers present. The only other students with whom he could play and socialize were children from his SDC class.
The school assured the parents that he could earn his way into mainstreaming and regular education.
At an IEP meeting, the district’s kindergarten teacher told the parents that they mainstream their Special Day Class (SDC) kindergarten students “all the time.” As she spoke further, she volunteered that no students had been mainstreamed during that entire school year and that 2 of her 12 students had had “some” mainstreaming the previous school year.
For some parents and students, this is an appropriate option. For others, it is not the vision they have for their student. In the next part, we will address inclusion.
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