Leadership for Effective Schools: Guidelines for the Development of an Inclusion Program.

This paper offers a literature review of materials concerning inclusion of students with disabilities, and reports on the 3-year development of an inclusion program at one elementary school in Texas. The literature review is organized into sections which address legislative initiatives and law, special education programs with mainstreaming, the current educational movement of inclusion, controversies surrounding inclusion, and court litigation. The development of an inclusive program is recounted, in the following steps: (1) gaining approval from the school board; (2) educating the faculty and staff through visits to inclusion sites and inservice workshops; (3) evaluating staff development activities; (4) initial implementation of the inclusion program; (5) evaluating the program's first year; (6) modifications to allow inclusion of a student with very severe disabilities during the second year; and (7) continuing the program for a third year. Basic guidelines are offered for other school districts, addressing assessment, planning, training, and evaluation. Appendixes include program statistics, a faculty development agenda, summaries of films, handouts for inservice training, and inservice evaluation forms and data. (Contains 22 references.) (DB) ******************************************************************k*** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ***********************************************************************