The Achievement of Students with Developmental Disabilities and Their Peers without Disabilities in Inclusive Settings: An Exploratory Study.

Students with developmental disabilities are being served in general education classes with increasing regularity (U. S. Department of Education, 2000). Research has suggested that inclusive educational programs have a number of potential educational and social benefits for this group of students and their peers without disabilities (Harrower, 1999; Hunt & Goetz, 1997). However, critics of inclusive education have raised questions about the impact of these programs on the achievement of both groups of students (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1994; Kaufmann & Hallahan, 1995). Unfortunately, there has been very little research conducted examining this critical issue (Harrower, 1999; Hunt & Goetz, 1997). Several studies have focused on the acquisition of discrete skills by students with developmental disabilities participating in general education classes in various instructional formats (e.g., Dugan et al., 1995; Kamps, Barbetta, Leonard, Delquadri, 1994; Hunt, Staub, Alwell, & Goetz, 1994; McDonnell, Mathot-Buckner, Thorson, & Fister, 2001; McDonnell, Thorson, Allen, & Mathot-Buckner, 2000). For example, Hunt et al. (1994) demonstrated that three students with severe disabilities acquired communication and motor skills as part of their participation in cooperative learning groups during a math unit in their general education classes. McDonnell et al. (2000) used a partner learning strategy to teach students to spell words during the regular spelling lessons in their general education classes. While such findings are encouraging, the small number of students participating in these studies and the relatively narrow range of behaviors that have been taught limits the conclusions that can be drawn about the overall benefit of inclusive educational programs for this group of students. There is also a paucity of studies investigating the impact of inclusive education on the educational achievement of students without disabilities. Daniel and King (1997) examined the gain scores of students without disabilities on the Stanford Achievement Test who were enrolled in classes that included students with special needs at least part of school day. They also attempted to assess the impact of inclusion on students' self-reports of self-esteem, and parents' and teachers' reports of problem behavior. They compared the performance of students who were enrolled in three different classroom structures including inclusive classes in which students with special needs were randomly assigned to the class roster based on natural proportions, cluster programs in which students with special needs were assigned to specific general education classrooms in the school, and noninclusive classes in which students were included in the general education classes for a portion of the day but received some special services in separate resource programs. The results suggested students without disabilities who were enrolled in inclusive classes were more likely to experience gains in reading scores with no notable differences across the service delivery structures in the areas of math, language, or spelling. The authors also found that teachers and parents of students with disabilities enrolled in inclusive classes reported higher rates of problem behavior and lower self-esteem than students who were enrolled in noninclusive classes. Sharpe, York, and Knight (1994) compared the academic performance of 35 students in a general education classroom that included students with developmental disabilities with 108 peers in different classes in the same school that did not include these students. The students' achievement was compared on a number of measures including the Science Research Associates (SRA) Assessment Survey, placement test scores from the reading series adopted by the school, student grades, and general conduct and effort grades on students' report cards. They found no statistically significant differences between the two groups on any of the measures of education achievement. …