The use of the term stems
from language in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that requires that students receiving special
education services be educated, “to the maximum extent appropriate … with
children who are not disabled” and further provides that placing such children
in separate classes or separate school settings or otherwise removing them from
the regular educational environment occur only when “the nature or severity of
the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the
use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.” There is an excellent discussion of the
issues relating to LRE from the U.S. Department of Education that appears on
the Wrightslaw website.
The goal of LRE is to
prevent children with any sort of disability (we don’t like that terminology,
but it is the language used in the statute) from being removed from the regular
classroom unless it is truly necessary. It is the basis for the variety of
inclusion settings that schools have implemented to provide support for
students with learning challenges while addressing the needs of their
classmates. One model is Collaborative Team Teaching classes that use a special
education teacher in a regular classroom to provide support needed by students
with learning challenges. Other examples of LRE at work are “pull out” supports
that keep students in regular classes while providing special education
supports in a separate setting for only for part of the school day, or the
inclusion of children who require a separate classroom setting for most of the
day in non-academic activities (lunch, gym, recess) with their typically
learning peers.
What does this mean for a
child with learning difficulties who has an IEP – an Individualized Education
Program? It means that for all
children full time presence in a regular classroom is the “default” setting and
that the IEP team (called the CSE -- Committee on Special Education -- in many
locales, including here in New York) needs to consider each step away from this
default and determine if it is truly necessary, before removing a child from that
setting for even part of the day. It doesn’t mean that some children are not
placed in separate classrooms or even separate schools, just that such
placements must be justified as truly necessary for the child’s education.
Of course, as with many
laudable goals, there are complexities and agendas at work when considering
LRE. Children with behavioral issues who may be disruptive to their classmates
may be placed in a separate setting, even when they could benefit from a
regular classroom. Schools have generally found that inclusion classrooms,
where children with and without IEPs are educated together, are less expensive
than maintaining separate special education classes and may be reluctant to
appropriately place a child in a separate class even when that would be the
best setting for him or her.
Furthermore, as with much of
special education, LRE is applicable only in the public school system. Parents
of some students with learning issues are very eager to have them enrolled in
private, special education schools whose entire mission is to educate students
with learning difficulties, even though such schools are definitely a most
restrictive environment.
Photo background used under Creative Commons by Horia Varlan
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