School Supplies, Expectations and Separate Settings

I was absolutely that kid who loved school, and I loved shopping for school supplies every year — Trapper Keepers, spiral notebooks, pencil cases and lunchboxes? Yes, please!

As a parent, when it was time to buy school supplies for my own child, that excitement bubbled over again. I was determined to find the cutest Hello Kitty backpack and a lunchbox featuring her favorite characters, as well as crayons, glue and safety scissors. 

Our family was fortunate when my daughter started preschool, because she was in a fully inclusive setting. At the time, I didn’t know what that meant or how important it was, and just like most parents, I was super nervous for the entire first week.

To my absolute surprise, she blossomed there. That’s not to say there weren’t challenges. But the teachers and staff knew how to support her, and several classmates always made sure she felt included. It was fantastic.

Cut to Kindergarten, and suddenly, our district didn’t have the right setting or classroom supports for her. They insisted on putting her in a county program, which seemed super restrictive and not right for our girl. Our family moved to a nearby district with the hope that they could teach and support her. I was so relieved when they offered placement in a class for kids just like her that was only 10 minutes from our home. Mind you, I didn’t yet understand what it meant for children to be educated in a separate setting.

Within a year or so, it was obvious that my daughter was losing ground, both academically and socially. She was stressed and scared a lot of the time, and I didn’t know how to help her. She had no friends. 

While searching for help online, I stumbled across the 2015 One System report, which stated that inclusion was the solution for improving all education in California and the “fix” for special education. In other words, all children should be taught together in one system, not separately.

Armed with information, I immediately began noticing signs of the negative impacts of separate education on my child. While shopping for school supplies that year, I realized for the first time that the shopping list for her special education classroom never changed from year to year. When I compared the lists for every grade in the general education classrooms, they certainly changed over time, with kids graduating from crayons to notebook paper and pens.

I was standing in the school supply section of Target when it suddenly hit me — for my daughter and her classmates, the expectations were exactly the same for Kindergartners as for fifth graders. They never expected my daughter to progress beyond the same crayons and glue she was using in Kindergarten.

Children educated separately from their peers often experience the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” It’s not intentional harm, but it’s harm, nonetheless.

That moment in Target ignited a fire in me for inclusion advocacy. Because all students deserve a rich education, high expectations and the support they need to live their best lives.

As you shop for school supplies this year, consider taking a moment to see whether or not the school’s list reflects high expectations for your child. If not, maybe it’s time to start asking a few questions about inclusion, core content connectors and learning beyond IEP goals.

#InclusionRevolution