Is Inclusion an Illusion? An Examination of National and State Trends toward the Education of Students with Learning Disabilities in General Education Classrooms

The inclusion of students with learning disabilities (LD) remains one of the more controversial issues in special education. Although research evidence seems to reveal that students with LD should spend most of the school day in the general education classroom, little data are available regarding the extent to which states are moving toward educating these students in less restrictive settings. This investigation was conducted to examine national and state data related to changes that occurred during the 1990s in educating students with LD in less restrictive settings. The results revealed that little change occurred across the United States as a whole, and that only 15 states moved toward educating students with LD in less restrictive settings during this time. The findings of this investigation further revealed that much of the apparent movement toward educating students with LD in general education classrooms is largely an illusion, explained primarily by the increasing identification rate for students with LD. The implications of these findings for future research and practice are discussed.