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who are “more experienced” in service learning
than <strong>the</strong> student with a disability. Experienced
students were described as individuals
who are “more mature” or “advanced” (e.g., a
student taking Advanced Placement courses).
In ano<strong>the</strong>r school, students with disabilities
are paired with students who can serve as “role
models.” For example, students with behavior
problems are often paired with students who
do not have behavior problems.
An alternative strategy to grouping is to
have students select <strong>the</strong>ir own partners. Participants
at one school indicated <strong>the</strong>y do not
purposefully group students. They believe that
having students work with partners is important
and that students need to choose <strong>the</strong>ir
own partners. When partners do not work well
toge<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong> adults ask ano<strong>the</strong>r student to
“help out.” They do not force students to work
toge<strong>the</strong>r. Students always have choice about
<strong>the</strong>ir partners. In order for this strategy to
work, teachers need to be observant and sensitive
to student interactions, and be prepared
to “step in” when problems arise.
Although participants elaborated on strategies
for grouping students with and without
disabilities to work toge<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong>y also stated
that <strong>the</strong> class as a whole (i.e., <strong>the</strong> large group)
needs to include a normal proportion of students
with disabilities. Over-representation of
students with disabilities inhibits <strong>the</strong> effectiveness
of <strong>the</strong> teacher and <strong>the</strong> ability of all students
to adequately learn and participate. If
controls are not put on <strong>the</strong> number of students
with disabilities enrolled, it is easy for
<strong>the</strong>se classes to become a “dumping ground.”
Modifications. Modifications that facilitate
inclusion of students with disabilities in service
learning include providing additional instruction,
monitoring students with disabilities
more frequently than students without
disabilities, providing supplementary instruction
in <strong>the</strong> special education classroom (e.g.,
pre-teaching behavior expectations, providing
consequences for misbehavior in <strong>the</strong> community),
and modifying <strong>the</strong> rules and grading
practices. Instructional modifications were
only discussed within three schools and no
participants provided specific examples (beyond
those listed above) of <strong>the</strong> types of modifications
<strong>the</strong>y employ.
Barriers to Including Students with Disabilities
Five categories of barriers emerged. These categories
include a) resources, b) teacher attributes
and experience, c) organizational
structure, d) planning, and e) student characteristics
(see Table 3). Although all five
schools contributed to <strong>the</strong> list of barriers, participants
at two of <strong>the</strong> schools indicated that
no barriers currently exist to including students
with disabilities in service learning. They
admitted that barriers might exist if <strong>the</strong>y were
asked to serve more students with disabilities,
or students with more severe disabilities or
behavior problems.
Resources. Participants across all five schools
identified resources that were needed to improve
<strong>the</strong> inclusion of students with disabilities.
The two primary resource barriers cited
were money and transportation. Limited
funding for materials needed to complete
projects can curtail <strong>the</strong> number and type of
service learning projects available. Funding is
also needed for specialized buses to accommodate
students who use wheelchairs. Since
<strong>the</strong>se students cannot ride <strong>the</strong> regular school
bus, <strong>the</strong>re is an increased cost for an extra bus
each time a student with a wheelchair performs
service in <strong>the</strong> community. Lack of transportation
for service learning activities that
occur after school or on weekends was also
cited as a barrier.
One school experienced difficulty finding
appropriate equipment in <strong>the</strong> community.
Students with disabilities need accessible
washrooms and specialized chairs that may
not be available in all community settings.
This impacts students’ access to some service
learning activities.
Staffing was viewed as ano<strong>the</strong>r barrier to
including students with disabilities. At one
school participants commented that students
with disabilities would be more successful if
<strong>the</strong> staff had more time to work with <strong>the</strong>m.
There needs to be a peer mentor, ano<strong>the</strong>r
service learning student, or a staff person
available to provide support when needed. At
ano<strong>the</strong>r school, staff turnover was viewed as a
barrier to maintaining <strong>the</strong> program in general.
Position cuts at <strong>the</strong> school eliminated
many teachers who had been implementing
service learning within <strong>the</strong>ir curriculum. Although
pockets of people exist to champion
Inclusive High School Service Learning Programs / 29