Teaching for Inclusion

Teaching for Inclusion shows how educators navigate the competing demands of everyday practice with examples from urban, suburban, elementary, and secondary schools. The author offers eight guiding principles that can be used to advance an inclusive pedagogy. These principles permit teachers to both acknowledge and draw from the conditions within which they work, even as they uphold their commitments to equitable schooling for students from historically marginalized groups, particularly students with disabilities. Situated in the everyday realities of classrooms that often include mandated testing requirements and accountability policies, this book addresses multiple dimensions of inclusive practice including curricular decisionmaking, the “grammar” of schooling, the status of family communities, and the demands of professional roles.

Book Features:

• Values teachers as contributors to the field of inclusive education, rather than technicians implementing given concepts.
• Offers ways of thinking about inclusive practices that educators can adapt to their own school contexts.
• Captures the real dilemmas faced by classroom teachers as they implement recommended practices.
• Incorporates a range of perspectives, including educators, students, and families.

Srikala Naraian is associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University, and program director of the Elementary and Secondary Inclusive Education Programs.

“Naraian offers a close look at exactly how teachers manage many of the things that make pursuing teaching for inclusion so hard, messy, and contested.”
—from the foreword by Dianne L. Ferguson, professor and director of program improvement and accreditation at Chapman University

“Srikala Naraian is a thoughtful, sophisticated observer of inclusive classroom practice. Her book, which is based on the work of teachers who are committed to equity and social justice, offers a cohesive understanding on what it takes to advance inclusive practice at the ground level in classrooms and in schools. For her, teachers are the major agents of inclusion. With a vision based on eight fundamental principles, Naraian acknowledges not only the complexity of inclusion, but also how to manage the challenges of the inhospitable policy and practice contexts in which these efforts toward inclusion often take place."
—Marleen C. Pugach, professor emerita, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

“This rich and wonderful book should be the centerpiece of professional development for every district and school in the United States. Fully understanding and respecting the rugged and often unpredictable social terrain of public school classrooms, Naraian provides helpful guidance and wisdom derived from the best research, theory, and practice. The eight principles offer a deeply ethical, highly useful compass for the development of more inclusive and equitable schools.”
—Scot Danforth, professor of disability studies and inclusive education at Chapman University