In-District Placements

In-District Placements refer to classrooms or programs that are part of the public school district (the three options on the left side: General Education Classroom, Substantially Separate Classroom, Education Collaborative).

In-District Placements are considered "Least Restrictive" according to special education laws. This refers to children with disabilities being in the same classrooms as their nondisabled peers.

General Education Classroom

Also known as inclusion, mainstream, or "gen ed" classrooms, they include children with disabilities alongside typically developing peers at the same grade or ability level.

Children can spend all or part of their school day in the general education classroom, depending on the support they need. Some services can be delivered in class (sometimes called "push in" services such as assistance from an aide), while other services occur with specialists outside of class (e.g., "pull out" services such as speech therapy, 1:1 reading instruction, social skills group).

The IEP can specify either:

“Full inclusion” - a student spending 80% or more of their day in a general education classroom (20% or less time outside of class, to receive specialized services). OR

“Partial inclusion” - spending 60 - 79% of the time in the general education classroom (21-40% of time receiving specialized services).

In-district, public school inclusion classrooms are typically tried first. For many children this works very well, and there are great benefits from having a diverse group of children integrated in the general education classroom. However, if a child is not making adequate progress or has more significant academic, emotional, or behavioral needs that interfere with learning, a more specialized or "restrictive" placement may be required.

A child's team will often only consider an out-of-district or private school after the child has not met their IEP goals and exhausted all available services at in-district placements. Sometimes the process of discovering that a new placement is needed takes a long time, which can be difficult for children. Not only do they lose precious time learning, but they are at-risk of emotional distress such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and school refusal.

Substantially Separate Classroom

Also known as “self-contained" classrooms, substantially separate classrooms offer a highly modified curriculum for students who have more specialized learning needs that cannot be met in the general education classroom. Typically developing peers are not included.

Classrooms may be created for children with a certain disability or offer more specialized instruction by highly trained teachers. For example, a classroom for students with dyslexia may offer Orton-Gillingham (OG); an autism classroom may offer Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA); and students with physical disabilities may benefit from an accessible classroom with adaptive equipment and teachers trained to meet their learning needs. To learn what substantially separate programs or classrooms are available in your area, contact your child's school or school district's adminstration office directly, or your state's Exceptional Student Education (ESE) office.

Simply having a diagnosis of a disability is not enough for placement in a separate classroom. For example, schools should not automatically place a child with learning disabilities in the separate LD classroom. Decisions are based on the individual child's needs, not their disability label.

Educators carefully assess if there are areas where children can access the general curriculum (e.g., academic subjects, specials such as art, music, and gym, transportation to school). This ensures their strengths and abilities allow them to be included with nondisabled peers whenever possible.

For many children this works very well. However, if a child is not making adequate progress or has more significant academic, emotional, or behavioral needs that interfere with learning, a more specialized or "restrictive" placement may be required, such as an Out-of-District Placement.

Six 1:1 aides supporting disabled students at U-shaped table

Education Collaborative

The public schools of several nearby towns may share resources and offer specialized programs in one of their buildings. For students with "low incidence" or less commonly occurring disabilities, a given town may not have enough resources to serve a small number of students with unique learning needs. These programs have different names across the U.S., such as Learning Collaboratives, but are called Education Collaboratives in Massachusetts.

Sometimes children are referred to a Collaborative that is outside of their district, with transportation provided, if the local district’s programs cannot meet the child’s needs. The Massachusetts Organization of Education Collaboratives offers a description of the 24 currently approved programs. To learn what is available in other states, see the U.S. Department of Education-sponsored website, NCSI. to contact your state liaison.

Collaborative day schools provide specialized instruction by highly trained staff and are designed to meet the needs of a particular population (e.g., children with physical disabilities, developmental and intellectual disabilities). These schools were created to ensure that students with disabilities receive an appropriate education alongside an appropriate peer group with similar learning needs.

For many children this works very well. However, if a child is not making adequate progress or has more significant academic, emotional, or behavioral needs, a more specialized or "restrictive" Out-of-District Placement may be required.