Developing Student Growth Through Effective Inclusion Skill Sets in the Rural Black Belt Region of Alabama and Mississippi
Developing Student Growth Through Effective Inclusion Skill Sets in the Rural Black Belt Region of Alabama and Mississippi

Summary/Abstract: Skill sets have been identified as the abilities needed by an individual to perform a job or task. In this mixed methods study, an online survey was developed to collect data identifying those skill sets and the barriers to effective inclusion in rural schools in the Black Belt region of Alabama and Mississippi. For rural administrators, this becomes a challenging task to provide the supports needed for students with disabilities to be successful and prepared to be college and/or career ready when they graduate. Rural school principals must be cognizant of teacher skill sets needed for both general and special education teachers to be competent team members in the inclusion classroom. Although 242 randomly selected rural school administrators employed in the Black Belt Region of the twin states area were sent an email requesting participation, there was only a 16% response rate for the survey. Results of the study indicated that principals felt supports that were needed for successful inclusion were related to professional development, common scheduling and planning, and collaboration. Barriers to inclusion were territorial and shared responsibilities, personality conflicts, and insufficient number of staff and coteaching training. One of the conclusions of this study indicated the need of administrators to be aware of the use of a variety of inclusion strategies that support more than just one inclusion model. The second conclusion indicated a need for the College of Education to revise and include additional training in effective inclusion skill sets both within their educator and instructional leadership preparation programs.

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