Student–Teacher Relationships Matter for School Inclusion: School Belonging, Disability, and School Transitions

Abstract

For students with disabilities, the process of school inclusion often begins with a move from segregated settings into general education classrooms. School transitions can be stressful as students adjust to a new environment. This study examines the adjustment of 133 students with and without disabilities who moved from a school that served primarily students with disabilities into 23 public schools in a large urban school district in the Midwest. These students and 111 of their teachers and other school staff rated the degree that students felt they belonged in their new schools and the quality of their social interactions. Results show that students who experienced more positive and fewer negative social interactions with school staff had higher school belonging. Teachers accurately noted whether students felt they belonged in their new settings, but were not consistently able to identify student perceptions of negative social interactions with staff. Implications for inclusion and improving our educational system are explored.

KEYWORDS:

• disability
• school belonging
• school inclusion
• student–teacher relationships
• transitions

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Our gratitude goes out to the staff and students of the participating school district, whose collaboration and participation made this project possible. We particularly thank Teresa Garate, Pam Wells, Renee Mitchell, Cindy Sanders, and Stacy Norris. We also thank DePaul University and the other members of the DePaul research team who contributed to this aspect of the overall research project: Judah Viola, Anna Parnes, Terrinieka Williams, Sangeeta Parikshak, Luciano Berardi, Benjamin Graham, Oscar Donoso, Jessica Plum, Praveena Gadiraju, Adia Gooden, Michele Morgan, and Irma Porcic.

Notes

Note. ^a Of the 115 participating students the number who responded to these demographic questions varied.

^b Students had a variety of disabilities including learning disabilities, behavioral, cognitive, and/or physical disabilities.

*p ≤ .05. **p ≤ .01.