Inclusive Education: All Means All

Inclusive education is more than a philosophy—it is a daily commitment to ensuring every student feels seen, supported, and valued. “All means all” requires educators to move beyond access and toward environments where differences are embraced and every learner has opportunities to thrive.

In this episode of The Road to an Effective Classroom Environment, Dr. Lashawnte McCray-Sarvis explores what inclusive education truly looks like in practice and how it shapes classroom culture, instructional decisions, and student outcomes. This conversation highlights the importance of equity, belonging, culturally responsive practices, and high expectations for all students.

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on how classroom structures, language, relationships, and routines either support or hinder inclusion. Dr. McCray-Sarvis discusses how intentional planning, collaboration, and advocacy help educators create environments that meet diverse academic, social, and emotional needs across K–12 settings.

Designed for teachers, instructional coaches, and school leaders, this episode challenges educators to examine how inclusion is lived out daily—not just stated in mission statements.

Because inclusive classrooms are not accidental—they are intentionally designed.

The environment we create determines the learning that takes place. Build it with purpose.

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Hello, everyone. Welcome back for another episode of The Road to an Effective Classroom Environment. I am your host, Dr. LaShante, and I trust everyone is having an awesome day. So today, our topic is inclusive education. All means all. So at this time, I would like to just say thank you to our special education teachers who put forth so much effort in making sure that their students are readily prepared for what happens outside of the classroom and what happens after graduation. Many times our special education teachers are our unsung heroes.

We know that teaching as a whole, this is a profession that is definitely a calling. And those who come in with the right frame of mind, they are there making changes in the lives of students everywhere. But this episode, I wanted to talk briefly about inclusive education, and this is not going to be the last episode regarding inclusive education and looking at special education because there is just so much that can be said. Well, you might be saying to yourself, Well, Dr. Lashanto, what does that have to do with maintaining an effective classroom environment?

Well, I will let you know. So we have students, every child learns differently. So let's let that be the first thing that is said. Every child, every adult learns in a different way. Even though we talk about modalities and learning styles, you have those that are visual learners, auditory learners. There are some that need other systems and support that are in place so that those students can be successful along with those general education students who may not need the same types of supports. And so, in looking at inclusive education, we want to make sure that just because a child has a learning disability, that he or she is still receiving the same information, receiving the same education, the same types of learning, but it may be done in such a manner that that child is able to comprehend, understand, and process it for himself or for herself.

And so when we look at what is inclusive education, taking a look at a definition from the Future Education magazine, inclusive education examines strategies for creating inclusive classrooms that cater to students with diverse learning needs. And so when we're looking at inclusive education, we want to make sure that our students are being able to receive services that will allow them to be on a level playing field with students that may not need the same types of support. In inclusive education, we also want to make sure that we're assessing the impact that those systems of support have on student achievement as well as the students' overall well-being.

So when we're talking about having an effective classroom and when we're talking about inclusive education, we want to make sure that our students, all students in that classroom, are learning, they are engaged in the learning process, they are open to asking questions, and they are ready to be sponges to soak up the knowledge that is given to them by not only the teachers who act as those facilitators in the classroom sometimes, because you may have where students are also teaching each other. But we want to make sure that our students in all classrooms, no matter what their learning style, no matter what limitation that they may appear to have, let it be known that that limitation does not limit him or her from being able to be successful in the classroom.

And so I was reading an article the other day about the pandemic and how the pandemic has impacted public education. And so there was a comment that was made by Nicole Kruger where she stated that the pandemic exposed any inequalities that exist in public education. So I agree with that statement to a certain extent because what I feel that the pandemic has done, I personally feel that the pandemic has opened the eyes to the deficiencies in public education and the lack of those of the students being able to be on an equal playing field who have certain limitations or certain disabilities.

So I feel like the pandemic exposed some things about public education because our children were online, and so once the pandemic officially ended per education, when the pandemic ended and everyone was able to come back into the classroom, you had a whole widening gap. So you had even your your AP and honor students who were struggling.

Those of us who are in education and those of us who understand special education and we understand what the students struggle with, or we try to understand what each industry each individual student is struggling with, we know that public education has not been for them for a long time. Because our students who are in special services, many times they're cast aside and they're not included in certain classes because they're gonna fall behind, because there's not enough money in the budget for someone to be a uh a support to one individual student.

Because when you have one student with one additional person that may go along with that student to each and every class, that is a salary that has to be placed in the budget. And so I agree with what Nicole said about the pandemic exposing those inequalities in public education, but I felt that the exposing was for the for those who were outside of education. Many of us, we already knew if we are keeping up with what goes on with special services students, we know exactly what's going on with them.

And we see it and we've known for a while, and many of us have been in a place where we could not really do everything that we needed, but we do what we can. But the public was able to see because not only were our special services students struggling, but also students who you would think would not struggle, they were struggling as well. And so when we're talking about inclusive education, you want to be able to have students who have limitations, have some type of physical limitation, or if they have a learning disability, you want them to be able to still receive the same curriculum.

It may be uh taught in a different manner at a different speed, but they're getting the same information, they're getting what they are able to retain and able to process.

An example of this would be let's say that you have a student who is who wants to be a beautician or a hairstylist or wants to own her own business in that type of field. And let's say that that student is considered a an attent intensive need student, and that that student is on a non-diploma track. When a student is on a non-diploma track, that means that he or she is not going for a high school diploma but is getting a certificate of attendance, or in some states who have really understood what it means to have where these students are able to graduate with something that they can take on to the next job, they are graduating with an individualized diploma.

Not many states are doing that, uh, but uh, if you don't mind, do some research and uh reach out to me, um, email me and let me know if your state is one of those. I know of uh I know North Carolina is a state that is offering that, but um let me know if your state offers some type of individualized diploma for intensive students, students who are not on track for a high school diploma. And my email address is Lashonta6 at Gmail. That's L-A-S-H-A-W-N-T-E, the number six at gmail.com. Share your um share that with me, share your comments, uh, share what you think about this um episode as well.

But um going back to the example, so let's say that this student uh wants to have her own business and um she wants to work in some type of area where she's either a stylist or she's doing lashes or she's doing um um working with skincare, and she's told that she can't because she doesn't have we don't have room in this class for you, or we don't have the capabilities within this building to be able to assist you. That's where we as a public school we fail that student because you have to get creative in helping the students, it's not a one-size-fits-all, you can't fit a student in a box and say that everybody else, all other students are gonna fit inside this box as well.

It doesn't work like that, whether you are a special services student or whether you're general education, everyone does not learn the same way, and until public education gets to the point where money is not an issue, and where we are able to be creative and go outside of said box in order to do what's best for our students until public education does that. That young lady who wants to be a hairstylist, but because she's not graduating with a diploma, she's got to figure something else out once she gets out of school.

Our students come to us because they we are supposed to be getting them ready for the outside world, not having someplace for them to come for 13 years from kindergarten to their 12th grade year in high school, and saying, okay, you're just here with us so that your parents can go to work. That's not what public education is about. And so eyes have to be open to know that when we say inclusive education, we're we have where all types of students they come into our buildings and they come in with the best that they have, their best ability, their best talents, they come in with that.

It's up to us as educators to help cultivate that because if we don't, those same students will become a discipline issue in the building, and they will become an issue outside of the building as an adult because they resort to doing other things in order to get what they need because they did not get it while they were with us. So, inclusive education, we're supposed to create those classrooms in which we cater to those diverse learning needs. What that looks like, it's gonna look different from every school to school, from district to district, from state to state, from country to country.

But what I do know is that we must try. Our next episode, I'm going to continue this conversation about inclusive education. But this was something that was very passionate to me, laid on my heart as I'm thinking about what am I going to bring to the people today? Because I wanted to get something out to you. And inclusive education was what was laid on my heart, and so this is going to be at least a two-part, it might even go into a three-part series, but just wanted to throw a few bits of information out there, give you some food for thought, think about what does that look like as an educator?

If you're in the classrooms right now, if you're a teacher in a classroom, if you're an administrator, whether you're at the school level, the district level, if you're a politician who's sitting in the seats at the state house making decisions for us educators, please make sure that when you're thinking about what's best for public education, please keep in mind what inclusive education looks like to you. What does that look like? I am your host, Dr. Lashonta. I hope that you have enjoyed this session.

And again, drop me some comments, send me an email, uh, subscribe to the podcast to support what I am trying to do for educators and providing incentives to them because this is a business in which I believe wholeheartedly in this is year 28 for me, but I want to give back, and by giving back, this is what this podcast is about. So, again, thank you so much for listening. Share the podcast with a friend, share it with several friends, and subscribe. Thank you so much. You have an awesome, awesome day.

Bye bye.