Parents and child advocates welcome a proposal by San Francisco schools chief Bill Rojas to move thousands of kids with learning difficulties into mainstream classes, but doubt the district can make such an untried program work.
Full inclusion is a great concept but a major challenge fraught with risk.
But teachers who haven't been trained aren't able to tap into her brightness. There are nearly 7,000 children in The City's public schools with learning difficulties ranging from cerebral palsy and autism to dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Fewer than 300 such kids are now in general education classrooms. In doing so, though, San Francisco is joining a controversial national movement that aims to see disabled children educated alongside nondisabled children. The nation's major teachers' union, the American Federation of Teachers, has come out against inclusion and has called for a moratorium on such programs.