Inclusion
Resources
Inclusion Resources
In addition to our three flagship programs, FIRE Denver is pleased to offer a number of resources in our local and national communities to support inclusion efforts of local Catholic Schools. Read more below about some of our favorite resources.
Children with significant special needs can develop their full potential intellectually, socially, and emotionally when high-quality instruction is implemented in inclusive class settings, among their peers and general education teachers.
What is Inclusion?
Inclusion is a philosophy of education that promotes the participation of students with disabilities in ways that are the same as their neurotypical peers. Inclusion ensures students with disabilities and learning differences are an active part of the community and classroom, where they learn and grow next to typically developing classmates and friends. Currently, fourteen percent of students in public schools have a documented disability and receive some form of special education services. According to the last numbers compiled by the USCCB in 2002, seven percent of students in Catholic schools have a documented disability. The kind of resources that FIRE Denver can help provide would immediately increase local Catholic schools’ capacity to serve students with disabilities and would enable schools to welcome a significant portion of our potential student population who have not been part of our schools because of historical lack of resources.
Favorite Resources & Research
There is significant research that indicates ALL students, those with disabilities and those who are typically developing, benefit from inclusive education. Students with disabilities who are included develop stronger skills in reading and mathematics, have higher rates of attendance, are less likely to have behavioral problems, and are more likely to complete secondary school than students with disabilities who have not been included.
Additionally, “students without disabilities had higher academic performance when learning with students of varied abilities, including those with disabilities, than their peers in less integrated classrooms” (Szumski et al., 2017).
As adults, students with disabilities who have been included are more likely to be enrolled in post-secondary education and to be employed or living independently. Furthermore, research indicates classmates without disabilities who are educated in inclusive classrooms hold less prejudicial views and are more accepting of people who are different from themselves (Evidence on Inclusive Education, Abt Associates).
To learn more about inclusion, visit the following sites, organizations, and articles:
Archdiocese of Denver Office of Catholic Schools
Archdiocese of Denver
Office of Catholic Schools
Proverbs tells us, “Train the young in the way they should go; even when old, they will not swerve from it.” (Prov. 22:6) The formative years of elementary and secondary education offers parents the best opportunity to prepare their children to answer the universal call of holiness. What better way to do this than through Catholic education. The 35 schools of the Archdiocese of Denver seek to provide rigorous academics, engaging extracurriculars, and a Catholic environment to bring students into a relationship with Jesus Christ. We form intentional disciples, young men and women who are prepared to be saints and leaders in our communities.
Leadership - Kristen Lanier
Associate Superintendent for Support & Academics
Kristen Lanier comes to the Archdiocese of Denver’s Office of Catholic Schools with 18 years’ experience in education holding roles in the classroom, administration, educational coaching, and consulting. Her driving desire is to see all students known and thriving within the beauty of an authentically Catholic education. Lanier has a master’s degree in Educational Equity and Linguistic Diversity with an emphasis in special education from the University of Colorado. Her role will center around casting and articulating vision, bolstering systems to support exceptional learners, supporting schools serving children with special needs, coordinating professional development, fostering collegial dialogue, as well as being the touchpoint in the Office of Catholic Schools around exceptional students. She is a devoted wife and mother of four beautiful children.
One Classroom Manual
Over and over again we’ve been told by principals, classroom teachers, and pastors that they would love to be more inclusive but just don’t know how. Here is your roadmap for how to act.
National Catholic Educational Association
An agenda for serving students with disabilities in Catholic schools
A Summary of the Evidence on Inclusive Education
There is clear and consistent evidence that inclusive educational settings can confer substantial short and long-term benefits for students with and without disabilities.
A Summary of the Evidence on Inclusive Education
There is clear and consistent evidence that inclusive educational settings can confer substantial short- and long-term benefits for students with and without disabilities.
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Pastoral statement of U.S. Catholic Bishops on persons with disabilities
National Catholic Educational Association
Exceptional Learner’s White Paper: One Spirit, One Body
Peak Parent Center
Sharing innovative, evidence-based information and strategies with families and educators AND connecting families – both to one another and to other educators and professionals – are key aspects of PEAK’s work in Colorado.
Writing on the Life and Ministry of the Catholic Church
FIRE Foundation of Denver Board Member, JD Flynn, has written extensively on the life and ministry of the Catholic Church, including theologically based responsibilities to those with disabilities. Read one of his recent articles here.
Journal of Catholic Education
A special issue on inclusion in Catholic schools.
Inclusion in Action Conference 2025
The FIRE Foundation of Kansas City is pleased to present an inclusive education conference for principals, teachers, paraprofessionals and parents who are committed to creating and strengthening K-12 inclusive learning opportunities at their Catholic schools.
University of Notre Dame: Program for Inclusive Education (PIE)
The Program for Inclusive Education (PIE) provides a spectrum of learning opportunities to foster the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for inclusive education.
Disability Debunks the Late Modern Myth of Radical Autonomy
FIRE Foundation of Denver Board Member, Susan Selner-Wright, is a professor and prolific Catholic writer. In the article below she describes that, per God’s design, we are interdependent with all those He has created, including those with disabilities. Read her thoughts in the article here.
Favorite Texts for Educators
Favorite Texts for Children
Spiritual Intercession
Prayer for Inclusion
Living and True God,
You created all that is good and holy in your image. Be close to us, your servants, who gather here today. Be our constant help and protection as we lovingly reach out to welcome and embrace all your children, regardless of abilities, in our parishes and schools. Bless our children as they grow together in faith, knowledge and friendship. And bless their parents and educators who guide them through challenges, who celebrate their special gifts, and who encourage them to reach their potential. We ask this through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
Meet FIRE Denver's Patron Saints
St. Margaret of Castello
St. Margaret of Castello was born blind and afflicted with dwarfism and severe curvature of the spine. Her parents pretended that she had died at birth and kept her hidden. When she was six, they had a cell built onto their family chapel and shut Margaret up there. Her only visitor was a priest who catechized her through a window and was able to bring her the Eucharist. When Margaret was 15, her parents heard that miracles had been happening in the town of Castello and they took Margaret there hoping that she would be healed. Their prayers were not answered in the way they expected and her parents abandoned Margaret in Castello. She was taken in by a series of townspeople and eventually came to live in a Dominican convent and became a third order Dominican. Margaret spent the rest of her life serving people in Castello: catechizing children, visiting prisoners, and caring for the sick and dying. When she died at the age of 33, she was given the extraordinary honor of burial inside the church. Her body was later discovered to be incorrupt and today lies under the main altar in St. Dominic’s Church in Castello.
Bl. Hermann of Reichenau
Blessed Hermann of Richenau (11th c., Germany) and St.Margaret of Castello (13th -14th c., Italy) were both born into noble families but received very different reactions to the difficulties they suffered from birth. Blessed Hermann is believed to have had a cleft palate and cerebral palsy along with other maladies. His parents did what was possible to meet his physical needs and encouraged his intellectual precociousness, which was evident early in his life. At the
age of seven, he was invited to live at the Benedictine monastery on the island of Richenau and attend the cloister school. Despite his difficulties with mobility, speaking, and writing, and Hermann thrived at Richenau, mastering the subjects of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music), eventually becoming a teacher and monk, and even being elected abbot by his brother Benedictines. He is best known today as the author of the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen).
You Are One of Us
Catholic Education and the Importance of Including People with Disabilities
A reflection on Divini Illius Magistri, January 28, 2022, St. John Vianney Seminary, Denver by FIRE Foundation of Denver Board of Director member, Susan Selner-Wright, Ph.D.
Contact FIRE Foundation of Denver
Contact FIRE Foundation of Denver via the brief form below:
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