What are the goals of mainstreaming students?

Question

Why is this considered controversial by some

Answer 1

Mainstreaming is putting children ,identified with a "special need" in with same age peers to learn side by side with the non disabled students.
No way in the world is mainstreaming "easier" for the teacher!! The benefit is for the special needs student, is to be accepted by peers, taught the same material as his peers and reduce the social stigma of being "disabled"
The benefit for the teacher and class is a sensitivity and acceptance of the uniqueness of all the different types of disability the class might have.
The reality is a teacher may have 7, 9, 15 or more...special needs students in ONE class: learning disabled, hearing impaired, visually impaired, emotionally disabled, physically challenged or mentally impaired, or medically sensitive.(alone with the average and gifted students too!)
Each one of those, did I miss one?,requires very specific and detailed individualized education plans called IEP's. Data must be kept on each goal of this contract and multitude of meetings occur during the year to see that the education team are following the law.
Certainly there are students who with a little support, resource help ,are able to complete some or all of the assignments and learn at least some of the very same things their peers are learning. Some children do not...
Some children respond to smaller groups or all of the same disability groupings for emotional or other reasons. Many people refuse to see this- thus the controversy.

Answer 2

Federal law requires that students be in the least restrictive environment. That being said, it does not speak to whether or not this is the best learning environment for them. In my state, students are being returned to the regular classroom with what is referred to as an inclusion resource teacher. In some cases this isn't a special ed trained teacher but a tutor. This teacher goes from class to class and works in the classroom with the student. The student is required to work at the grade level they are assigned to with "help" from the resource teacher. Now, tell me how much assistance do you think a child will receive when there is one teacher and she has to assist up to 12 children who could all conceivably be in different classrooms. What if the child has an IEP that says they need help in all subjects? Guess what? They don't get it. The child who is assigned to a 5th or 6th grade homeroom but is actually functioning at a 2nd grade level is expected to work in the books the rest of the class uses and get help from the resource teacher. Yeah, that sounds like it will work. And if you think the kids will feel more comfortable and a part of the class, I can tell you they won't. The other kids know they are different. They will realize just how slow they are when they are in class with a helper teacher just for them.

Wanting your child mainstreamed really comes down to wanting to pretend there is nothing "wrong" or different about your child. No one wants to feel like their child is different from other children but you are doing them no favor by demanding they go into a regular classroom.

Answer 3

I have 2 boys one needs iep help the other is identified talented and gifted, both are being mainstreamed. I think it allows the teachers an easier environment to teach in. Also, it does not segregate the students making them subject to ridicule. I believe the students are more comfortable in that type of environment, everyone wants to fit in. They both do have classes that they attend which pertains to thier individual needs.

Answer 4

Mainstreaming is to make it easier to teach. If all the talented students are in one one class, the teacher can teach much better - free of the slower ones.

It is controversial because many would like to believe that all students are born equal, equally smart or equally dumb