A Meta-Analytical Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Inclusive Practices on Learning Outcomes

Abstract

In order to fulfill the principle of equality of educational opportunity, it is necessary to prioritize the education of individuals with special needs in the society and to provide special education services to these individuals. Inclusion is the practice of integrating individuals with special educational needs (IwSEN) with individuals with typically developing (IwTD) in the general education environment. In this study, it is aimed to synthesize recent research quantitatively in order to determine the effectiveness of inclusion practices on learning outcomes through meta-analysis. In this regard, pretest-posttest control group-based studies conducted between 2000-2019 both nationally and internationally were scanned from national and international databases in line with the inclusion criteria. This study was conducted under the guidelines of PRISMA declaration. As a result of the search process, 36 studies (14 PhD dissertations, 10 master's thesis, 11 articles and 1 conference paper) complying with the inclusion criteria and in which semi-experimental and experimental designs were applied and comparisons between the groups were made were selected out of 62 studies. The effect size, heterogeneity test, intermediate variable analyzes and publication bias analyzes of the studies were performed using the Comprehensive Meta- Analysis program (CMA 3.0). The findings were handled according to random effects model and interpreted according to Cohen's classification. The effectiveness of inclusion practices was found to be large effect size (g= 1.328). In addition, the effect sizes of the studies included in the study were calculated according to the variables of group level (teacher, student) and school level. In terms of the group level, the effectiveness of applications in both teachers and students group was found at “large effect size” level. In terms of the school level, while the “moderate effect size” was seen at higher education, all other groups had “large effect size”. Some insights can be obtained from the results of this study, which revealed that the effectiveness of inclusion practices is at a large effect level for students and teachers and moderate effect level for preservice teachers.