When the Nation’s Report Card was released last month, it reiterated a hard truth about our education system today: We are failing our students with disabilities.
Students with disabilities, who make up 15% of all public school students, continue to lag significantly behind their non-disabled peers. On the reading assessment administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), fourth graders with disabilities scored 39 points lower and eighth graders scored 38 points lower. In math, fourth graders with disabilities scored 31 points lower and eighth graders scored 40 points lower. And in both math and reading, eighth-grade students with disabilities saw a decrease in their NAEP scores since previous results from 2022.
This achievement gap reflects an ongoing crisis likely to worsen with inaction. Over the last 40 years, the number of students receiving special education services has doubled to over 7 million children today. If trends continue and these numbers rise but we refuse to change how we serve students with special needs, we risk denying millions of children their right to a high-quality education.
Improving outcomes for students with disabilities will require increasing the number of special education teachers to meet rising demand, a well-documented challenge. But two-thirds of special education students spend more than 80% of their school day in a general education classroom, with general education teachers like me. If we want to see change, all teachers need the support necessary to make that happen.
Struggling with inclusion
A few years ago, in my transitional kindergarten classroom in Oakland, I had a bright, curious and ridiculously cute student named Alex. At 5 years old, he could read any paragraph I put in front of him, answer questions enthusiastically during story time, and grin from ear to ear on the playground with his peers.
And in hard moments, Alex would scream, cry or run to crawl onto my lap. Sometimes all three. If his favorite fork was missing, if an assembly disrupted our schedule, or if it got too loud in the classroom, Alex fell apart and required lots of reassurance to calm back down.
Alex is one of the millions of public students with a disability. They include students with a learning disabilities such as dyslexia or dyscalculia, speech impairments, chronic illnesses and autism — like Alex. Although students with disabilities do better in inclusive classrooms alongside their general education peers compared to self-contained classrooms, many general education teachers find themselves struggling with inclusion. Myself included.
When Alex had a hard time, I often had to pause or abandon my lesson, disrupting the learning for all my students. And rarely is there only one student like Alex in a classroom. As soon as Alex calmed down, I could turn around to find my nonverbal student getting ready to throw a chair because his needs weren’t being met. Or I needed to move a child out of the way for my student on crutches. Or I missed a student crying at her desk because she couldn’t tell the difference between the numbers we were learning about.
More preparation
Inclusion works better than segregation — but we are still not doing right by students with disabilities when we are unprepared and ill-equipped to ensure their success. We can and should do better.
Our efforts should begin before teachers even step into the classroom. Pre-service general education teachers typically take only a class or two on working with students with disabilities in their teacher preparation programs. I had only one class out of the 18 required for my degree that focused on supporting students with special needs, but it gave me a wealth of knowledge I was able to draw on. We learned about the services students could receive in the classroom, and years later I was able to advocate for Alex to receive time with an instructional aide who would support him academically and socially-emotionally, freeing me to work with other students. Teacher preparation programs should include multiple courses on how to support students with disabilities before teachers begin their careers.
Moreover, general education teachers need ongoing opportunities to grow their knowledge. I’ve been able to attend professional development trainings, online webinars and conferences where I left with strategies that helped me teach both special education and general education students. I learned to provide Alex with a calming area, a visual schedule and soundproof headphones to help him develop self-regulation skills and thrive in school. General education teachers need access to professional development to improve their practice.
By the end of the school year, good days had become the norm for Alex. My hope is that, in the years before 4th and 8th grade, he continues to grow and succeed. But for that to happen, he will need teachers who know how to serve him best. No small feat, but not an impossible task. For students to do well, teachers need to do well too. Our students deserve no less.
Alicia Simba is a public school teacher living and working in Oakland and a 2024-25 Teach Plus Senior Writing Fellow.