How Expanding Access To And Improving The Quality Of Early Education Can Help Us Fulfill Our Promise To Students With Disabilities
February 2, 2016
As States Struggle To Effect Change In Early Childhood Education, They Should Not Lose Focus On Inclusion
Since 2013, expanding access to and improving the quality of Early Childhood Education (ECE) for the nation’s children has been a chief priority of the Obama administration’s education policy. In his State of the Union Address earlier this month, President Obama again made reference to the need to expand upon progress that has already been made by “providing pre-K for all.”
The administration has undoubtedly been successful at creating awareness around the issue, but to little practical effect, at least so far. 40 states and the District of Columbia offer some form of State-funded public kindergarten and some states are offering access to early childhood programs for infants and toddlers, but many more have run into barriers in actually effecting change. As Education Week reporter Lillian Mongeau mentioned in a recent article, “the pace of public preschools and other early-ed services has been incredibly slow.” She discussed how, despite the federal government’s strong rhetoric around the issue, states have had little success moving forward on legislation that would actually expand access and improve quality. In some states like Mississippi child care systems continue to be plagued with problems, failing many children.
Early Childhood Education And Students With Disabilities
As reforms to ECE lag behind, sadly the nation’s most vulnerable students are the ones who suffer the most. Research has shown that access to high quality ECE can have a life-changing impact on children in poverty and on those with disabilities, affecting everything from school achievement to earnings later in life.
A 2015 report highlighted how effective ECE programs in North Carolina reduced special education placements in 3rd grade, a critical crux in a child’s education, after which students are far less likely to transition out of special education and more likely to lag behind in reading and overall academic performance, to be involved in the criminal justice system, and to fail to graduate and earn as much as their peers. Not only can such programs improve the academic, social, and financial prospects of a child, but reducing placements can also help districts spend money where it is needed most–on students with the most severe disabilities. Educating a child receiving special education services can cost twice as much as educating a general education student, and if students can receive the services they need when they are young, allowing them to transition out of special education later, everyone benefits: these students transition into general education where they have greater opportunities for success, and more money is available for providing higher quality services that will improve outcomes for students who require more intensive interventions.
Inclusion Is Critical To Equitable And Effective ECE
In addition to expanding on ECE, the Obama administration has also emphasized the need for more inclusive early childhood education for students with disabilities. Joint guidance released by the U.S Departments of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education acknowledged that while progress has been made nationally in expanding opportunities for ECE, this progress has not been proportional when it comes to expanding upon opportunities for inclusive ECE. While Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) is the legal right of every child in this country, more than 50 percent of students with disabilities in Early Childhood Education programs are educated in segregated settings.
Inclusion, which involves providing students with disabilities opportunities to learn and socialize with their non-disabled peers at least several days a week, can have broad benefits for young students with and without disabilities. In addition to academic benefits, including increased skill acquisition and higher test scores, students with disabilities also benefit from inclusion socially and professionally, giving them increased opportunities to live rich and meaningful lives in and beyond school. Furthermore, these benefits are more likely to be maintained if students continue to be educated in inclusive settings in elementary school and beyond..
The barriers to inclusive ECE are myriad, and include everything from misaligned attitudes and beliefs about students with disabilities and inclusion and misinterpretation of IDEA, to lack of staffing, training, and expertise of the ECE workforce. Yet for improvements to ECE to be truly equitable and to benefit those who need it most–students with disabilities–states and local agencies need to to take actions at every step that will promote inclusion as they plan for improving ECE. Despite the challenges inclusion presents to already slow and fledgling work, inclusion must be a top priority if we are to fulfill the promises made by IDEA to students with disabilities.