International Journal of Education and Social Science (IJESS)

The task of education in American primary and secondary schools is immense and challenging. When compared to other nations, the American primary and secondary education systems are falling behind. In fact, the Program for International Students Assessment (PISA), a group that assesses high school students from different countries, ranks the literacy of American students sixteenth, and the mathematical ability of the same group ranks even lower. America’s future prosperity and position as a global leader depends largely upon the education of her sons and daughters (Levy, Rice, Klein, and Council on Foreign, 2012). Thus, reforming the 21st Century American classroom is a necessity. The current reforms measures are resulting in the adoption of common core standards by each state, and technology continues to provide instantaneous information that is transforming the classroom into the digital age of interactive instruction. Today, teachers are responsible not only for meeting the diverse needs of all students but also for ensuring improved educational outcomes. Accordingly, school personnel are seeking proven ways to strengthen traditional classroom practices. Things do not change; we change. (Thoreau, 1949, p. 319). As most readers will attest, a glimpse into the professional life of school personnel reveals a common plight. It reflects the challenges that the growing number of diverse learners poses to teachers across the United States. Over the past 3 decades, a burgeoning number of students with diverse learning needs have been placed in general education classrooms. Before 1975, about one-third of the students in any general education class would have been excluded from public schooling. A decade later, after the passage of the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (EHCA) of 1975, school personnel would have referred those same students for special education services. The students would have been referred and removed from the general education classroom and become the instructional responsibility of a special education teacher in a resource self-contained or special school placement. The original EHCA, now known as the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA; 2004), stressed the need to educate students with disabilities alongside children who are not disabled (Haager & Klingner, 2005). Accordingly, the students with IEPs in general education classes likely would now receive special education services in the regular classroom.