Abstract
The special education field has been growing in the US since the 1970s when disability movements were raised. As people with disabilities (PWD) continued to fight for their employment, health, and education rights, children with disabilities were brought to the stage by their parents, resulting in the appearance of special education that focused on providing qualified education for students with disabilities (SWD). With continuous movements and parental advocacies, Section 504 (1973) and IDEA (1975) became two of the main policies protecting SWD to receive qualitative education at schools, while IDEA is currently mostly implemented with its Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). With the development of policies, the concept of inclusion is emphasized, and more schools have begun to apply mainstream classrooms where SWD and their peers study together rather than in segregated classrooms. According to the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) provision in IDEA, SWD have the flexibility to receive support in a separate classroom if needed, while encouraging them to enroll in a mainstream classroom. This study was conducted at a Newton public elementary school where all classrooms were mainstream classrooms. With teachers’ interviews and classroom observations, the study found that policies set a baseline for schools and teachers to provide a comfortable learning environment with SWD, and teachers’ experiences and passion make them build on it, achieving SWD’s development and promoting an inclusive environment. Though educators faced challenges such as heavy workloads caused by different individual needs when applying strategies, they demonstrated the possibility of achieving inclusion by establishing effective cooperation to further build up and practice the student-centered ideology. The student-centered ideology is essential in creating an inclusive educational environment because it guides educators to treat students as individuals, recognizing the normality of individual differences.