The principal believes that full inclusion has benefited the regular education teachers, although it was hard at the beginning. She notices that, through constant exposure to special education pedagogy, it has become more comfortable for teachers to modify their instruction accordingly. She points out that when people talk about modifications, they generally think about ways in which accommodations are made for SPED students. Dr. Stack, however, is more impressed with the influence of the special education teachers on the practice of regular education teachers with slower students who are not classified as SPED. She comments:

"One of the areas of focus on the district evaluation form for teachers is being able to identify how to make adaptations and modifications within the classroom for kids who just don't get it the first time. It has been interesting for me to see how much more articulate the teachers are about that since inclusion."

Scheduling as Equity

Like every principal, Dr. Stack spends a lot of time on scheduling. Her focus, however, is an unusual one in that issues of equity drive the scheduling process, resulting in a decision to try block scheduling at the eighth grade level. In reviewing the eighth grade unified arts schedule, Dr. Stack realized that these classes were becoming racially identifiable. Since 85 percent of the eighth graders were taking a foreign language and band, they had no time for electives. This left the electives-industrial technology, performing arts, and vocal music-without a good mix of students, and eliminated 85 percent of the students from the electives altogether. To remedy the problem, Jefferson is trying out a unified arts-only block schedule, on an A/B, every-other-day basis.

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