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The is looking to increase the amount of time that special education students spend in classrooms with their general education peers — an area where the state continues to lag far behind the national average.

Studies show that special education students tend to do better when they interact more with their peers and are taught in inclusion classrooms.

Nationwide, about 62 percent of special education students spend at least 80 percent of the day in a traditional classroom; in Hawaii, only 36.3 percent of students do.

That’s a big improvement from 2011, when fewer than 16 percent of special education students in Hawaii met that 80 percent mark. But 36.3 percent is not enough, special education advocates, Department of Education administrators, and teachers told a  committee Tuesday.

“It’s an ethical issue,” , an associate professor at Manoa’s College of Education, told the BOE. “We shouldn’t be asking, ‘Does inclusion work?’ but ‘How does it work? What can we be doing to make it work?’”

Although everyone seems to agree on the need to improve special education and increase inclusion rates, the state faces some significant challenges in turning those numbers around.

Resistance To Inclusion?

Part of the challenge is that inclusion often doesn’t work if implemented as a top-down mandate, Sheehey said. Everyone on the campus — from the administrators to teachers and aides — has to be on board.

And inclusion that is poorly implemented can ruin the potential for future programs to work.

“I’ve  heard so often, ‘Inclusion doesn’t work,'” Sheehey said. “Well, did everyone have the support and training they needed? And not just one time, but continued professional development?” 

Schools also need more qualified special education teachers and educational assistants, and better training for everyone involved. Co-teaching in an inclusion setting also requires more time planning, which can be difficult to get, said Justin Hughey, a special education teacher and vice president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association.

Teachers and administrators may also be resistant to inclusion for a variety of reasons.

“Anytime we make changes to a system it’s challenging,”Sheehey said.

Parents need to be brought on board as well, Board of Education member Grant Chun said, adding that there’s often an unfounded fear on the part of parents of students without special needs.

While studies show that special education students do better when they are in classes with general education peers, there are no studies that show students in general education suffer or lose academic ground in inclusion classrooms, Sheehey said.

“As a parent you don’t realize that is a good thing for both parties, and frankly no one tells you that,” Chun said.

Efforts Underway

Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Mulcahy, a former special education teacher now in charge of special education at the DOE, said several efforts are underway to improve inclusion rates and special education in general.

Her office has been working to increase professional development and improve communication and collaboration among complex areas. One step in that direction has been to mandate monthly meetings for district educational specialists.

At the core of the challenge is the need for qualified special education teachers, Mulcahy said.

Sheehey said UH is trying to help in that area. The university has been working to increase enrollment in its special education teacher licensing programs. UH also used a federal grant to launch a new program last year that uses a co-teaching model to train teachers in both special education and general education.

Although Hawaii — like many mainland states — has been facing a shortage of special education teachers for years, there may also be challenges in how teachers and educational assistants are assigned.

There’s no consistency — and not enough transparency — in how complex areas assign special education staff to schools, Mulcahy said.

She’s hoping that mandating monthly meetings between district educational specialists and improved communications can help increase consistency and collaboration across the state. That would let her office focus more on replicating successful programs or “bright spots.”

Mulcahy says one of those “bright spots” is Maunawili Elementary School in Kailua, where a majority of special education students are taught in an inclusion setting. Last year the school posted some of the highest test scores in the Kailua-Kalaheo Complex Area.

Maunawili Principal Christine Udarbe credits her school’s success, at least in part, to a collaborative school environment where special teams monitor student progress and help with interventions. 

What would Udarbe’s school need to do even better? BOE  Vice Chair Brian De Lima asked.

Udarbe’s wish list echoed that of many schools: Another special education teacher, one or two more educational assistants, more consistent professional development, and more time.

“We have a lack of time,” Mulcahy told the BOE. “That doesn’t mean we need to extend a school day, it means we have to make time for this.”