How's the Weather in there? Shifting to an Inclusive Climate for ELLs
To pull or not to pull? That is the question that plagues an inclusive school system. On the one hand, targeted intervention for students with exceptionalities (language, learning disabilities, high achievement) allows for individualized programming and can be done outside of the hustle and bustle of a classroom. Separate spaces may also allow for more opportunities for risk-taking without the watchful eye of grade-level peers. Certainly, in the case of a brand-new-English-learner, this pull-out allows the acquisition of some survival English and relieves pressure from the already busy teacher. These are all justifications for our current model which breaks the mold of inclusive policy and allows for groups of students to leave the classroom for interventions. But is it best? The article Leading Inclusive ELL: Social Justice Leadership for English Language Learners (Theoharis and O'Toole 2011) presets case studies of two schools that made the shift from exclusive ELL educa