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Mainstreaming

The concept of “mainstreaming” was developed in the mid-1980s as an initial attempt to provide access to general education. Mainstreaming can be defined as the process of transferring students who are being served in separate special education classrooms into general education classrooms, on the basis of two criteria. Criteria for mainstreaming individuals with disabilities were (1) academic achievement at or near grade level requiring little accommodation or support and (2) behavior that was manageable with minimal supports. The concept of mainstreaming created an educational reform movement referred to as the Regular Education Initiative of the mid-1980s. This reform led in turn to the inclusion movement of the mid-1990s. This entry discusses the history and development of mainstreaming, the movement from mainstreaming to inclusive practices, the difference between mainstreaming and inclusion, and issues related to the field of education maintaining a mainstreaming mind-set.

History of Mainstreaming

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, later reauthorized as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), was the seminal law giving students with disabilities access to public school. Prior to the passage of IDEA, students with disabilities were not guaranteed access to public education. State policies could deny access. IDEA created the first inclusive education movement for individuals with disabilities by allowing those individuals access to public school campuses. Although the law mandated that students be educated in the least restrictive environment, in practice many students with disabilities were limited to primarily physical access to the public school campus and facilities. Segregated classes for students with disabilities were the primary means of service at that time in the public school setting.

In 1986, Madeleine Will, former assistant secretary of education, introduced the Regular Education Initiative. Will proposed that a separate system to educate students with primarily mild to moderate disabilities out of the “mainstream” of general education was limiting the educational achievements and experiences of those students. By constructing special education programs for students with disabilities that were distinct from general education programs, students with disabilities were excluded from participation in general education. Lack of efficacy data supporting greater academic gains by students with disabilities in separate programs supported this movement. The Regular Education Initiative was a call for reform of both special education and general education systems. The Regular Education Initiative was launched as an educational movement to have general education teachers assume more responsibility for the education of students with disabilities. The Regular Education Initiative proposed that general education and special education teachers cooperate to return students with disabilities to the mainstream of general education. It supported a merger between the educational systems of special education and general education.

From Mainstreaming to Inclusion

Historically, mainstreaming primarily focused on returning students with mild to moderate disabilities back to general education classrooms. The opportunity to go to general education for all or part of the day was perceived as an “earned” privilege. As mentioned previously, two criteria were considered before selecting a student for the opportunity of mainstreaming: (1) The student's levels of progress needed to be at or near peers and (2) the student's behavior must not be disruptive to the general education class. These readiness criteria meant that students with mild disabilities were most often the only students selected for the mainstream. This left students with significant disabilities no opportunities for accessing the general curriculum. Because of that lack of opportunity to ever be included, the concept of inclusion in education was born. Parents of students with significant disabilities led the movement for inclusive educational practices for students with any level of disability. The practice of mainstreaming did not adequately apply to individuals with significant disabilities and did not convey permanent membership in general education to students with mild to moderate disabilities. It is for this reason that the terms mainstreaming and inclusion mean two different things.

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