Students with disabilities are struggling. How one Nebraska district helps them succeed.
| Scottsbluff, Neb.
When Bethany Jolliffe started teaching kindergarten 15 years ago, she picked up on what seemed like a long-standing pattern: Teachers mostly stayed in their lane, with general education teachers focusing on 鈥渢heir鈥� students, and special education teachers honed in on students deemed to be their responsibility.
Instead of keeping children with disabilities in classrooms and bringing help to them, those students were often pulled out of the classroom, away from their peers.
Nationwide, that鈥檚 a common approach in schools, where many students with disabilities, starting in kindergarten, are segregated from their classmates for large portions of the day. At Westmoor Elementary in west Scottsbluff, Nebraska, where Ms. Jolliffe is now assistant principal, that鈥檚 no longer the case. In classrooms across the school, children of all abilities learn side by side. Special education teachers and paraprofessionals spend hours in the same classrooms to provide support to students who may need it. All teachers spend time planning together to figure out how to support every student who walks through their door.
Why We Wrote This
Nebraska is a leader in the U.S. in terms of classroom inclusion for students with disabilities. What does that mean for their academic success?
鈥淜ids don鈥檛 earn their way into a general ed classroom. That鈥檚 where they belong,鈥� says Wendy Kemling-Horner, executive director of student services at Scottsbluff Public Schools, home to Westmoor and seven other schools that serve 3,500 students in western Nebraska.
Scottsbluff and many other communities across Nebraska have joined a statewide effort over the past few years to include more children with disabilities in general education classrooms for the majority of the day. In 2022, faced with dismal outcomes for students with disabilities and pandemic-related gaps, the state launched a program called 鈥淛ourney to Inclusion鈥� to teach educators about keeping students with disabilities and other children together and to improve it.
Nebraska has poured nearly $1 million of its federal COVID-19 aid into this effort to make sure students with disabilities aren鈥檛 just sitting in general education classrooms, but making academic progress and feeling included. If children need additional help, it now largely happens right in those classes.
At a time when the concept of inclusion raises the ire of the Trump administration 鈥� with research that includes the words inclusion or disability under federal scrutiny 鈥� Nebraska is a case study of what can happen when schools prioritize doing inclusion in ways research says helps all students learn. As part of their shift, state officials have pushed for more co-teaching, where a general education teacher and a special education teacher work together in the same classroom. The state provided training sessions and workshops for administrators and general education teachers so they understood they have a responsibility to students with disabilities. They also sent coaches from SPED Strategies, a national organization that helps districts roll out inclusion, into schools across the state to train and help teachers roll out new techniques.
There is still room for Nebraska鈥檚 schools to better serve students with disabilities, and parents and advocates have highlighted issues with other parts of the state鈥檚 special education services. But there has been significant progress when it comes to improving teacher and administrator knowledge of how to do inclusion successfully, educators say. So far, at least half of the districts in the state have been trained by SPED Strategies, and nine are working directly with the organization for personalized coaching. Other schools or districts have adopted select aspects of inclusive education.
Results in Nebraska
The state is starting to reap the benefits. Between 2021 and 2024, the percentage of Nebraska鈥檚 third grade students with disabilities who were proficient in math increased from . In 2021, 65% of special education students graduated in four years, compared to the state average of almost 88%. By 2024, the graduation rate for special education students was nearly .
Some of this success echoes research that has found for children with disabilities in inclusive settings, as well as a on academic and social skills.聽 has found inclusion makes students with disabilities more likely to graduate on time and can boost attendance and cut discipline referrals.
Nebraska is something of an anomaly for prioritizing inclusion across the state. Nationwide, students with disabilities spend large portions of their days in segregated settings, even though federal law says they should be educated with their general education peers 鈥渢o the maximum extent appropriate.鈥� States are required to report to the federal government how many students spend of their day in general education classrooms.
Many states fall short of this goal even with students in kindergarten, according to a review of federal data by The Hechinger Report. Across the nation, 29% of 5- and 6-year-olds with disabilities do not spend 80% of their days with general education peers. In New Jersey, which has the lowest inclusion rate, it鈥檚 53%. By contrast, in Nebraska, 88% of kids are included in general education classrooms the vast majority of their day. It鈥檚 the second-highest inclusion rate in the U.S. for that age group.
High exclusion rates in the early years signal something is wrong with how districts view young students with disabilities, experts say. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 very problematic when we decide immediately when a student comes into kindergarten that they need to be in a self-contained placement,鈥� said Jordan Lukins, assistant teaching professor at North Carolina State鈥檚 College of Education. 鈥淭here鈥檚 still this kind of outdated idea of, 鈥榃ell, they鈥檒l learn better in a smaller setting, or with a teacher who鈥檚 got different training.鈥欌��
Meeting a range of needs
Research has found the , particularly how schools plan and set up classrooms, can make a huge difference. Some have said classrooms lack resources and support for students with disabilities. Earlier this year, a small group of questioned whether the evidence really proves inclusion works, and pointed out that in some states with high inclusion rates, test scores have declined.
Nebraska has long had better rates of inclusion than other states, even though the state wasn鈥檛 specifically focused on improving it until recently, says Amy Rhone, state director of Nebraska鈥檚 Office of Special Education. Still, years of poor outcomes for special education students indicated to Dr. Rhone and other state officials that the quality of instruction in inclusive classrooms has been lacking.
As state officials started talking to school officials and educators to dig into problematic practices, they realized a lot of children with learning disabilities, like dyslexia, were being pulled out of their general education setting for specialized reading instruction with special education teachers. Without the training in how to teach reading, those teachers were in many cases using 鈥渉omemade materials鈥� that weren鈥檛 effective, says Dr. Rhone. While out of class, students missed lessons that put them further behind, she added.
This, in part, inspired the state to train all pre-K through third grade teachers, including special education teachers, in evidence-based reading instruction. They encouraged educators in subjects like physical education and music to also take the literacy training. The state published guides for teachers to explain what research-based inclusion looks like and introduced strategies teachers can use to help learners with different needs, like visual schedules and flexible seating options.
These strategies are key to making inclusion work as well as possible and can benefit all children, says George Theoharis, a professor of inclusive elementary and early childhood education at Syracuse University. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about constructing that space that鈥檚 supportive, a process for trying to meet a range of needs, whether kids have disabilities or not.鈥�
A new path in Scottsbluff
Many of these strategies are evident at Westmoor and across schools in Scottsbluff, a rural community home to a large sugar factory and known for its agriculture. But this hasn鈥檛 always been the case. As recently as a decade ago, most of Scottsbluff鈥檚 elementary students with more severe disabilities were funneled to one specific school that was most accessible for students with physical disabilities.
About seven years ago, district leaders started their own inclusion push. They decided to enroll students with more severe needs in all of the elementary schools, not just one building, and improve inclusion across grade levels. The shift was partly inspired by feedback from parents. Several years ago, for instance, one mother pointed out that though her child spent significant time in general education classrooms, she had few friends or invitations to see peers outside of school. Scottsbluff鈥檚 administrators realized they were falling short of meaningful inclusion. 鈥淭hat was tough to hear,鈥� Dr. Kemling-Horner says.
When the state announced its new initiative in 2022, Scottsbluff was one of the first districts to jump on board and embrace new guidance from the state. They added a 30- to 40-minute intervention block each day so all children can get help without missing key lessons. They began relying more on co-teaching, rather than pulling children with disabilities out of the classroom to work with special education instructors; and they started providing joint planning time for special education and general education teachers, to nurture collaboration. The district encouraged inclusion-friendly like offering students multiple options for showing understanding of concepts and creating different work spaces in the classroom.
This is visible at all levels: At the high school, a 鈥減eer para鈥� program that started in 2022 pairs trained students with a peer with a disability to make sure students have added support and an advocate in class. A general education classroom at Westmoor Elementary now may have children with cognitive disabilities, learning disabilities, and visual or hearing impairments spending substantial time 鈥� if not the whole day 鈥� with their peers.
The school is trying to move away from 鈥渢eachers performing on an island,鈥� says Ms. Jolliffe, who is scheduled to take over as principal at Westmoor in the fall. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the collaboration between the special ed teacher and the classroom teacher that makes [inclusion] successful.鈥�
The inclusive push has reached the district鈥檚 preschool program as well. That year is when children are especially welcoming of differences, educators here say. 鈥淎t this age group, a lot of times the kids don鈥檛 even notice,鈥� says Jeanne Anderson, a veteran teacher. 鈥淎s they grow older and move through the grades it鈥檚 just something they鈥檙e used to.鈥�
鈥淎ll kids are our kids鈥�
On a recent winter morning inside Ms. Anderson鈥檚 classroom, five children sat cozily on a carpet as Ms. Anderson reviewed the 鈥渂ig鈥� vocabulary words they had recently learned. The class was missing several students because of a snowstorm the day before, but Ms. Anderson forged ahead, supported by two other teachers.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 our very favorite big word? Our very first one?鈥� she asked.
鈥淔labbergasted!鈥� a child called out.
Ms. Anderson says despite training, inclusion can still be hard in practice, especially when it comes to making the experience equal for all. Some children have more intensive needs and may require more time and energy from a teacher regardless of how much training that teacher has had.
Still, Scottsbluff has already seen promising results, echoing state trends. Between 2022 and 2024, the proportion of special education students across all grades proficient in both and English language arts doubled. 鈥淥ur kids are getting what they need at the moment that they need it,鈥� says Dr. Kemling-Horner. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not waiting for kids [with disabilities] to fail and then sending them somewhere else to learn.鈥�
While there is progress statewide, Dr. Rhone says the rollout is still uneven. Some districts, especially those that are smaller and more rural, may lack staffing and resources to take up a new vision of inclusion. Parents recently accused of continuing to segregate children with disabilities too much. Special education teachers, in particular, are in short supply. These shortages are in part responsible for some Nebraska school districts from students with disabilities who live outside district boundaries, according to a recent investigation by Nebraska鈥檚 Flatwater Free Press and The 74.
Scottsbluff is waiting to see how potential federal funding cuts and the Trump administration鈥檚 crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs will affect them. In early April, the state lost in unspent pandemic recovery aid, which has paid for the state鈥檚 inclusion efforts. State and district leaders say they hope the type of inclusion they鈥檙e prioritizing is not what federal officials want to end, as the changes may be key to making sure more students are ready for education, work, and life after high school.
鈥淓very educator is taking more ownership for kids,鈥� says Dr. Rhone. 鈥淚 think we have real pockets of excellence across our state that are saying, 鈥楴ope, all kids are our kids.鈥欌��
This story about 聽was produced by , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
