Professional Development Surrounding Special Education and Inclusivity Within The Private Sector

Rampelberg, Kelly As the world becomes more exposed to disabilities in social media and movies, we are more hyperaware that many people who live among us within society are walking through life with a disability. However, despite the ever-growing familiarity and exposure, schools are still left scrambling for meaningful, appropriate and educational professional development on how to work with diverse classroom makeups for students and staff. Within the public sector, we see schools pushing to have more inclusive classrooms, inclusion summits, after-school programs where students with and without disabilities can establish friendships, and yearly minor professional development for staff. However, when looking at the private sector, special education is still very new. Many teachers who work in the private sector have minimal experience working with students with disabilities because private schools do not have to accept or adhere to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) due to the lack of public funding that they receive. As more students with disabilities seek access to private education, many private schools have begun implementing the Special Needs Scholarship Program (SNSP.) This program allows schools to accept special funding to serve students with a valid Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and evaluations from a public school. Given the substantial funding — $15,000 per student in the 2023-24 school year (School Choice Wisconsin) — many schools are starting to explore serving special education students. With this push, we see that more students are now being identified as needing special education, but there is little to no professional development on skills and strategies needed to implement proper special education support within inclusive classroom settings. If the demand is there and private schools want to continue to grow these programs, there needs to be a significant push for proper staffing, education and learning for staff and students so they are fully equipped to work with these diverse classroom makeups.

Grantor dc:publisher

Alverno College

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Rampelberg, Kelly

• Special education teachers

Statement dc:rights

• These materials may be used by individuals and libraries for personal use, research, teaching (including distribution to classes), or for any fair use as defined by U.S. Copyright Law.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://alverno.omeka.net/items/show/997

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:alverno.omeka.net:997