Obstacles to integrating disabled students in a "two-roof" elementary school.
This article describes a 5-year effort to integrate special and regular students on a campus where special and regular education students are housed in separate but adjacent facilities with separate administrators. Observational data and questionnaires revealed almost total segregation at the end of 3 years. An intensive intervention program, Project L.E.A.D., generated promising short-term movement toward integration, but there were few enduring effects. Physical, social, and psychological barriers created by the two-roof school erect almost insurmountable obstacles to integration. Future efforts should concentrate on building one-roof schools with a single facility and administration.
Mercer
J R
JR
Denti
L
L
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000193:education; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D004519:Education, Special; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration*