Although teachers consider the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) critical for students’ success, they do not provide their students adequate instruction based on principles of the ECC. A minimum level of competence for assessment and instruction in the ECC should be established for novice teachers. Personnel preparation programs should evaluate how to prepare teachers better to implement the ECC, and professionals should commit themselves to teaching the ECC in a way that ensures their students’ success.

This study investigated changes in teachers’ and parents’ understanding and implementation of or philosophy on the implementation of the content areas of the expanded core curriculum for students who are visually impaired. The results demonstrated some changes since the original survey results were reported in 1998 and a discrepancy between the perceptions of parents and teachers of teachers’ level of knowledge of the expanded core curriculum.

Most students who are blind or visually impaired in inclusive education settings are socially isolated. Many readers will disagree with me and will come up with examples of social inclusion that have been very meaningful for some of their students. But my random sample-and it's not small-suggests that, more often than not, blind and visually impaired students in inclusive education settings do not become socially integrated. Even considering the fact that social interaction skills are a part of the expanded core curriculum, I believe there is a very logical reason as to why most blind and visually impaired students in inclusive settings remain socially isolated.

The learning needs of blind and visually impaired children can be divided into three categories: needs that are met by adapting the curriculum, needs that are met by changes in methodology, and developmental and educational needs that are unique to these children. To fulfill the needs in each category, it is essential that instruction be provided by special teachers of the visually impaired who are knowledgeable of the effects of the loss of vision on learning, trained in effective methods of adaptation and remediation, and sensitized to the emotional needs of this population.

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