Kellen Hedler, 11, is outgoing and gregarious. He dances on a hip-hop team, and he enjoys all kinds of sports.
Adaline Whitmer, 7, is bubbly, yet shy. She's starting to come out of her shell since she began cheerleading at a local gym.
Both Kellen and Adaline attend public elementary schools in Oklahoma.
And they both have Down syndrome, a genetic condition that causes a range of physical and developmental challenges.
Adaline and Kellen go to school less than two hours away from each other, but their experience in the classroom is a world apart.
That's because Adaline spends most of her school day in a separate class with other students who have disabilities, rather than with her first-grade peers. Meanwhile, Kellen spends more than 80% of his day in a fourth-grade general education classroom, learning alongside his non-disabled classmates.
Research shows that kind of inclusion puts Kellen in a better position to succeed.
"Study after study is showing that there's no harm to being included, but there's great risks of harm to being segregated," says Jennifer Kurth, a professor of special education at the University of Kansas. "Kids [with disabilities] who are included develop better academic skills, better communication skills, better social skills, just kind of everything we try to measure."
Kurth says students with higher support needs, like those with Down syndrome, stand to gain the most.
Inclusion is also what federal law recommends: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) says students with disabilities should be educated in the "least restrictive environment," meaning they should be taught in the general education setting for the maximum amount of time possible with the necessary support to help them learn. The goal driven by federal policy is 80% of the day in a general education setting.
And yet Kellen's experience at school isn't the norm for students like him. While federal data shows students with disabilities have been increasingly taught in general education settings, students with certain disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, are still largely educated in separate classrooms.
Seeing all students as general education students first
Just outside Tulsa, Adaline Whitmer is a first-grader at Bixby West Elementary School. She loves to read and ride horses, and she recently started participating in a CheerABILITIES team at a local gym. It's a program that uses cheerleading to teach young athletes with and without disabilities to come together as a team.
"She has trouble with running or jumping, standing on one leg," Adaline's mom, Kristen Whitmer, explains. "And so those types of asks, at first she was like, 'I'm not doing that.' And now, she's trying, and they're supporting her where she's at."
Kristen says, "Getting to watch her kind of come out of that shell and be less shy has been amazing."
Cheerleading has offered a level of growth and inclusion Adaline hasn't been getting at school, Kristen says.
She remembers the day, a little over two years ago, when she went to pick Adaline up from kindergarten. Kristen lined up with all the other parents.
"And I get a phone call and they're like, 'Where are you?' And I'm like, 'I'm in the car line, I'll be there in a minute,' y'know? And they're like, 'No no no, y'all go to the back of the building.'"
That's where other students with disabilities were routinely picked up. Kristen says she was taken aback that the default for students like Adaline was to separate them, but at the time, she says, "I didn't want to pick a fight."
Last spring, Kristen raised her concerns with the school, and administrators told her that parents have the option to pick up students with disabilities along with general education students. Bixby Public Schools, Adaline's school district, tells NPR that parents have always had that choice. And while Kristen is now picking Adaline up at the front of the building, she says this was just one example of the ways Adaline has been segregated at school.
"I say segregated because it is segregated from the typically developing population," Kristen explains. Adaline currently spends about 47% of her day in a general education classroom – a proportion Kristen is trying to increase.
"We want them to first look at our children as general education students," she says. "Let's start with the assumption that the child would be in general education 100% of the day, and then let's figure out how we can support them there."
Bixby Public Schools Superintendent Rob Miller told NPR in an email the district shares this goal, and disagrees "with the characterization that any child is being segregated based on their individual educational placement." He also said they offer "a wide range of specialized services based on student needs and abilities, sometimes in special settings."
Last May, Kristen and several other families in Adaline's district filed a complaint with Oklahoma's State Department of Education. Among other things, they alleged their children with disabilities were being segregated, and that the district was denying them access to the least restrictive environment laid out in federal law. In its final report, the state said it could not evaluate the district's placement decisions for students, but it directed the district to reconsider each student's least restrictive environment with parental participation. It also required the district to provide more training for staff, among other actions.
Before the state investigation, Adaline was spending about 24% of her time in a general education setting. Now, it's close to half of her day. That's still less than the 80% inclusion goal driven by federal policy.
It's a goal many schools struggle with. But just outside of Oklahoma City, at Frontier Elementary School, Kellen Hedler is reaping the benefits of that kind of inclusion.
How inclusion can benefit students with disabilities
Kellen transferred to Frontier Elementary about two years ago, and his parents, Kristy and Michael Hedler, have never looked back. Their eyes well up when they think about how far Kellen has come in his short, 11 years of life.
"Kellen's academic growth has been amazing," his mom, Kristy, says. "He's made progress across all areas."
His dad, Michael, says Kellen isn't the only one who's benefiting — his classmates are too. "It teaches kids that we're all normal and everybody has their own unique abilities and things that they can do."
In fact, research supports that idea. Numerous studies show non-disabled students can benefit from sharing the classroom with those who have learning differences. Jennifer Kurth of the University of Kansas says non-disabled students either show improved academic and social outcomes or their outcomes remain the same.
Both Kristy and Michael say Kellen has experienced all kinds of exclusion at other schools. Now, they're relieved to finally see him making big strides in an inclusive classroom setting.
Adam Frederick is one of the teachers helping to make that happen. On a recent Monday morning, the hallways of Frontier were buzzing as Frederick welcomed each of his fourth-graders into the classroom. Near the end of the line, Kellen greeted Frederick with a fist-bump before plopping down on a couch to catch up with his best friend, Nolan Robbins, and his other classmates.
After filling out their daily workbooks, the class lined up and made their way to their morning huddle. Kellen and a chorus of his classmates chanted, "I am safe, I am calm, I am kind, I am helpful."
Kellen spends more than 80% of his day in general education settings like this. He participates in science experiments and history lessons with his classmates, and there's a classroom assistant available if Kellen needs help, but he is largely independent. There's time built into the day for Kellen to get more direct instruction from Frederick in areas he struggles with, like math.
Kellen does sometimes leave his regular classrooms for other specialized lessons, including for speech and reading. One of his goals for this school year is to make transitions between those classes without an adult — a goal he is already meeting.
Striking a balance between inclusion and special education
When Kellen first got to Frontier Elementary two years ago, his reading skills were stagnant. Now, he's exceeding his goals, and mom Kristy says Kellen's evolving Individualized Education Program (IEP) has played a big role in that.
"The reading has exploded, not just on paper, but at home he's reading for enjoyment now," says Kristy.
Students with disabilities rely on IEPs, which serve as uniquely tailored roadmaps of educational goals as well as the services each student is entitled to. According to federal guidelines, educators, specialists and parents or guardians are supposed to help shape an IEP to ensure it includes appropriate goals informed by the general education curriculum.
Kellen's IEP team at school meets regularly with his parents to evaluate his academic and non-academic progress.
But according to Jennifer Kurth, of the University of Kansas, that doesn't always happen.
"We have a problem in this country in which a lot of times IEP goals are not as rigorous as they need to be," Kurth says. "They are not linked to general education standards, and they're often repeated year after year."
Kurth says that can mean students aren't being pushed to grow.
Adaline's mom, Kristen, says she has had frequent IEP meetings with Adaline's school team, but she doesn't agree with the plan the school has laid out for her daughter. She wants Adaline to spend more time in general education with more rigorous goals. Kristen has raised her concerns with Adaline's IEP team at school, but says they haven't been receptive.
Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller tells NPR that families and other members of an IEP team "all have a voice and are encouraged to participate fully in the process." He says the district still hopes to "work with the Whitmers and other families in the original complaint to resolve their concerns," and it "remains committed to providing each child with appropriate educational support and services."
Jennifer Kurth says it often falls on parents to make sure their children's IEPs are appropriate and schools follow them.
"There's no IDEA-police," she says. If a family thinks their child's IEP and educational placement isn't appropriate, "there's not an easy remedy for that other than starting a mediation process or going all the way through the court system if needed. And because that requires so much time and money, it's just not a feasible outcome for most families."
"Inclusion is important because we're planning for their future"
For the Whitmers and Hedlers, inclusion at school isn't just about academic progress; it's about building real-life skills and relationships they hope their children will carry into their adult lives.
"Inclusion is important because we're planning for their future," says Kristy, Kellen's mom.
"At some point, the schooling stops, but they're still expected to live in our community. We want them to have the opportunity to be productive members of their community, have meaningful employment, have friendships, to live independently."
As Kristen Whitmer, Adaline's mom, fights for her daughter at school, she hopes activities like cheerleading and swimming will help Adaline build skills and a community that she'll carry with her.
"I'm thinking long term, over time, having those natural peer models that can step in and help her, invite her to come sit with them at lunch," says Kristen. "And as she gets older, calling her to see if she wants to go to the movies."
For both Kellen and Adaline's parents, inclusion at school today is a necessary step toward their children navigating the world on their own one day.
StateImpact Oklahoma education reporter Beth Wallis contributed to this story.
Edited by: Nicole Cohen
Visual design and development by: Mhari Shaw
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