Religion & Law

I've complained before about the lack of commitment by Catholic schools to educating children with special needs.  Well, someone's finally doing something about it, and it appears that they are doing it very, very well!  Nicole Garnett brought to my attention an new initiative of Notre Dame's teacher training through service program,  Alliance for Catholic Education ("ACE").  The goal of the initiative is as follows:  "Based on the Theology of Inclusion, Catholic Schools will be prepared to educate the children of God regardless of special needs in learning, behavior, language acquisition, or social-economic status."

You can read a detailed memo about his initiative here, but it's clear from the introduction that these people absolutely understand what so many Catholic parents of kids with special needs have been trying to explain:  

Inclusion, in educational circles, is defined as providing an equal education to all children, and to the maximum extent possible, educating all children in the same setting.    Catholic social teaching compels schools to include and serve traditionally marginalized students, including students in poverty, those with special needs, and English language learners.  Over the past half-century Catholic schools have strived to be inclusive toward students in poverty.  However, during this same time period, they have largely failed to craft service delivery systems for students with special needs and for English language learners.   . . . We must first remind principals, teachers, and parents that Catholic education for the baptized is not a choice but a responsibility.  Secondly, we must give schools the tools to both address learning, language and behavior issues of children in the classroom, and to understand how to access federal and state monies to support this endeavor.  And, perhaps, most importantly, we must frame this work in our Catholic faith, in Scripture, in our Church documents, and in Catholic social teaching.

And its also very clear that ACE has a solid appreciation for the challenges that this project presents to Catholic schools. ACE has been conducting a pilot program in Florida for a number of years to train teams of teachers in under-resourced Catholic schools to recognize and deal with various learning and behavioral problems, and to tap into the IDEA-mandated resources available from the state to support education of students with special needs.  Going forward, ACE is proposing to offer its graduates who  have a major or minor in Theology training on the Theology of Inclusion, preparing them to offer workshops on this topic to diocese and school boards, and to consult with schools to train teachers to implement this theology.   Long-term, ACE is proposing to develop a Master of Arts in Inclusionary Practices. 

This is wonderful news!