WHENEVER WE REVISIT the subject of including students with intellectual and developmental disabilities into the fullest mainstream of school life, I think back to my own elementary schooling as a measure of how far we’ve come.

Back in the ’60s at Herman Avenue Elementary School in Auburn, N.Y., there was a classroom down at the end of the first-floor hallway known as the “Sunshine Class.” I had a cousin with mental retardation who was a student in the class. I rarely saw her or her classmates during the school day.

Thankfully, such euphemisms for fully segregated settings for children with disabilities have disappeared from public schooling, and many such students now spend a substantial portion of their schooling with same-age peers. As the writing in this month’s issue attests, plenty more can be done to benefit students with disabilities.

In their respective articles, education leaders Jenna Rufo and Kurt Schneider address belief systems and mindsets. Nate Levenson sees a more determined role for superintendents, and Julie Causton, with two colleagues, captures the stories of three students in widely differing classroom placements.

Further, Lynda VanKuren looks at the rising use of student-led IEPs, and Merri Rosenberg examines online delivery of services to students from psychologists, speech-language pathologists and other specialists in schools without access to nearby staff.

I sometimes wonder what would have become of those in the Sunshine Class with the current mindsets and supports education brings to these students.