The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) are federal laws in the United States (US), which state that schools are accountable for the success of students with special needs. They also state that school responsibilities must be demonstrated through Individualized Education Program (IEP), which outlines specific instructional accommodations, modifications, and effective evaluations. Historically, students with learning disabilities (SLD) received services either in a resource room, a self-contained special education classroom, or inclusive settings where they received special education services within the general education classroom. Even though federal laws shifted the focus on how to effectively educate SLD, it appears that these students continue to fall behind their non-disabled peers in regular education classrooms in many subjects, including science. Teaching science to SLD in inclusive classrooms is a challenging task for science teachers as the numbers of SLD has increased. However, collaboration among teachers, setting high learning goals, effective teaching strategies, and providing some basic modifications can help SLD be more engaged and succeed in science classes.

Contemporary educational research has found that student engagement and disengagement have a relevant influence on learning outcomes. However, research on the influence of teacher–student relationships in the engagement of students with special educational needs (SEN) is scarce. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of teacher–student relationships, peer support at school, family support for learning, opportunities to participate at school, and SEN on engagement and disengagement of students using a sample of secondary students with SEN and typical development (TD). Through a non-experimental, correlational, and cross-sectional design, we evaluated 1,020 high school students (340 with SEN and 680 with TD) in the 9th grade (13–19 years old, M = 14.8; SD = 0.89). Teacher–student relationships, peer support at school, and family support for learning were assessed via subscales from the Student Engagement Inventory (SEI), opportunities to participate at school were measured...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and illustrate the use of the Engagement for Learning Framework developed through the Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (CLDD) Research Project (2009-2011). The resources support mainstream and special educators to extend the engagement of learners with CLDD. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 95 educational settings and 224 students took part across three phases of research (November 2009-March 2011) comprising a resource development phase and two trial phases in mainstream and special schools. The researchers used an exploratory, multiple case study approach and action research methodologies. A recent case study from Hamilton School, Birmingham, illustrates the Engagement for Learning Framework. Findings – The resulting Engagement Profile and Scale data showed increases in engagement for similar proportions of the student cohort. Across the three phases, 81-85 per cent (mean: 83 per cent) increased their levels of engagement for learning, 2-9 per cent (mean: 5.3 per cent) showed no change, while 5.5-16 per cent (mean: 11.6 per cent) showed decreased levels of engagement. Descriptive data corroborated these scores. Originality/value – This original research added value to existing work by developing resources for educators that enabled them to adapt activities to encourage students' engagement in seven engagement areas (awareness, curiosity, investigation, discovery, anticipation, persistence and initiation). The resources enabled educators to score learner engagement over time to show progress and collected associated descriptive data.

Children with Special Needs who process in Inclusive Education Organizing Schools (SPPI) often seem left out not to develop their best potential, are shackled with labels, and marginalized socially and academically. This negative impression can be minimized by increasing the involvement of children with special needs in learning. However, many schools still do not know the level of involvement of children with special needs in SPPI. This study aims to determine the level of involvement of children with special needs in learning by using an intrinsic case study approach to nine children with special needs with a variety of mental retardation, autistic, slow learner, disabled and low vision in semester 1 of 2018/2019 academic year at an SPPI. This article describes the level of student involvement in terms of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects. The results showed that the level of involvement of children with special needs varied greatly depending on cognitive abilities and the environment's role in creating creative learning.