Why Inclusive Classrooms Benefit Every Student, Not Just Those With Disabilities

Improving education for students with disabilities benefits everyone in a school, said Debra McAdams, the director of exceptional student education for the Nashville, Tenn., district.

McAdams, who has held the role since 2009, helped lead a districtwide transformation after years in which students with disabilities were largely segregated from their peers in elementary and middle schools.

But the work went far beyond physically moving students into general education classrooms. The district also had to reshape mindsets, rebuild systems, and provide sustained support for educators navigating a fundamental shift in practice.

McAdams, a 2026 Leader To Learn From honoree, spoke to Education Week about what it takes to implement inclusive practices and why the work is never finished.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How do inclusive practices benefit students with disabilities?

We like to say inclusive practices, because it’s about focusing on what the adults can do. It benefits students academically, socially, and emotionally.

When students with disabilities are meaningfully included in general education classrooms, they’re going to have greater access to grade-level instruction. They’re going to have higher expectations within the general education classroom, and they’re going to have richer learning experiences. It also helps build communication skills with our students with disabilities, independence, and a stronger sense of that belonging.

But most importantly, our inclusive practices confirm that our students with disabilities are valued members of their school communities.

How do inclusive practices benefit students who don’t have disabilities?

We should be exposed to all different kinds of people. And it builds lifelong friendships.

We had a student who was blind walk into a kindergarten class, and this other student just took him under his wing and would walk him around and help him get everywhere. Instead of having a [paraprofessional] walk him everywhere, here was another kindergarten student who said, ‘Hey, I want this guy to be my friend. I’m going to help him get to the lunchroom.’

It’s just little things like that that make a huge difference for both our students without disabilities and our students with disabilities.

Why do you think some districts struggle with inclusive practices?

It’s such a systematic change. It took us years to get here.

It’s not just about, ‘Oh, let’s put all the students with disabilities into a general education classroom.’ You really have to have a plan moving forward and how we’re going to support all students in this change.

You need to look at staffing completely differently. You need to look at scheduling completely differently, and you need to look at your overall mindset about students with disabilities.

Our students with disabilities can learn, and they should be having access to core classroom instruction, and they can make huge improvements in the general [education] classroom. I think the districts that are struggling, they haven’t had that mindset change, they haven’t had consistent training, and they haven’t had clear protocols. There’s no shared ownership between general education and special education. They don’t think students with disabilities are [general education] students first.

Without all those supports, like inclusive practices, it can feel overwhelming or be implemented inconsistently. That can often lead to frustration for everybody, for our [general education] students, our students with disabilities, our parents, our [general education] teachers, and our special education teachers.

How did you get started?

We just started with using appropriate vocabulary, using person-first language. It helps change your mindset when you change your vocabulary.

When I stepped into this role, we had a significant number of students with disabilities who were placed outside of the general education setting for large portions of the day. Students were being sent to schools they weren’t zoned for [because special education services weren’t offered at their neighborhood schools].

There was often not a lot of strong data that supported that decision; it was just happening. At that point, our [individualized education programs] were frequently more compliance-focused rather than really being instructionally driven, and there wasn’t a consistent districtwide understanding of how to implement inclusive practices with fidelity.

Along with all the other steps we took, we needed to strengthen the IEP quality, align services to student needs, and create clear expectations and accountability that students would be educated in the least restrictive environment.

That was a huge transformational change.

What support did teachers need to make this shift?

We really strengthened our co-teaching model. We strengthened instructional collaboration times between special ed. and general education teachers. We provided ongoing coaching.

We made sure that [general education] teachers were really a part of that IEP team and understood how to apply the accommodations in the classroom. We taught teachers about universal design for learning practices, because many of them had not had a student with an IEP in their classrooms before.

Let’s say I have a student who really has trouble sitting in their seat for a long period of time. We might give them a taped outline around their desk where they can get up and move. And this is not something that would be beneficial for just a student with a disability; this could be something that’s beneficial for all students.

We might allow students to choose how to demonstrate their learning. One student might give a written answer to a question, another student might make a poster. It’s just good general teaching practices, really.

The goal was not just to place the students with disabilities in general education, but to ensure that they were supported and successful in that general education setting.

What are you still working to improve?

We are continuing to work on consistency across schools and sustainability over time.

It’s not a one-time initiative—it requires us to focus on continuous improvement and ongoing coaching. When schools aren’t meeting the [least restrictive environment] target, we show them the achievement growth in the schools that are.