Organizing Resources to Support Inclusion Models for Students With Disabilities: Recommendations for ESSER investments and findings from our new study

Across the country, roughly one in five students with an IEP spend most of their time receiving individualized services and supports in a “self-contained” or “substantially separate” setting. And the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of effectively serving students with disabilities – and exacerbated the inequities embedded in traditional models for doing so. For some of these students, a more inclusive learning environment is appropriate – but districts need to know which resources to use and how to target them strategically in order to implement inclusion models effectively.