Mainstreaming (Education)

Mainstreaming is the practice of placing students with special needs into a general education classroom for specific periods of the school day based on the skills they have, while they remain based primarily in a special education setting for the rest of their schooling; a student might join a regular classroom for a subject such as art or physical education where they can succeed alongside their peers. It is often confused with inclusion, but the two are distinct: a mainstreamed student is fundamentally part of the special education classroom who attends select regular classes, whereas an inclusion student is fundamentally a general education classroom student who receives special education services within that setting. Both approaches are guided by the legal principle of the least restrictive environment, which requires balancing a student's need for social integration against their need for instruction suited to their abilities; mainstreaming allows continued access to specialized support in a resource room, while inclusion emphasizes full-time placement in the general classroom with services delivered there. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/