Federal law requiring the least restrictive
environment (LRE) for disabled students has resulted in the
mainstreaming of disabled students and more recently, in the practice
of inclusion. Although LRE has increased the number of disabled
students in the general education classroom, the dual system of
general and special education continues to exist. The Regular
Education Initiative calls for regular and special education
professionals to work together to assess the educational needs of
students with learning problems and to cooperatively develop
educational strategies for meeting those needs. Although a research
review indicates that teachers support inclusion and express a
willingness to teach disabled students in regular classroom settings,
little has been done to prepare teachers for implementing a unified
educational system. This paper suggests that teacher education
programs should provide intensive training and experience to develop
the necessary skills for regular and special education teachers to be
effective collaborators in planning, teaching, and evaluating
instruction. Priority should be given to developing and implementing
noncategorical programs that merge the training of general, special,
and related services personnel (speech language pathologists,
physical therapists, psychologists) so that they share common course
work and practicum experiences. In addition, inservice for local
school personnel, community members, and students must focus on
developing and practicing collaborative planning, teaching, and
evaluation skills with the goal of effective education for all
children. This paper also reports on a survey of 49 colleges and
universities that indicates that preservice teacher education
programs are not addressing the need for a unified educational
system.