The authors discuss 10 lessons that they hope will help professionals create inclusive schools in which more children fit naturally into classrooms and differences are viewed as an ordinary part of the school day. THIRTEEN years ago, a local director of special education asked us to work with teachers and administrators to achieve the goal of closing at least half of the separate special education classes in the elementary schools in his district. As part of this endeavor, we were to help these educators develop programs to support students with disabilities in general education classrooms. Thirteen years later, this work is still not complete. Evaluations have indicated that the inclusive programs in this school district work well.1 Students with disabilities are making at least as much progress as, if not more than, they did in separate special education classes. Students who are not labeled with disabilities also continue to make good academic progress. Teachers, administrators, and parents have pointed out many social benefits that have resulted from these inclusive programs.2 These programs have widespread support from teachers, administrators, parents, school board members, and other stakeholders. Ultimately, more than 75% of the separate classes closed - only two remain open for full-time placements. These two classes provide intensive support for students with the most challenging behaviors, and students in these classes are included with peers in general education classrooms whenever that is possible. This article describes 10 of the most important lessons we learned as we worked with professionals and other stakeholders in these schools to develop inclusive programs. These lessons have helped us to better understand why and how some schools in the district changed their practices and became more inclusive, while other schools made few changes. Equally important, the lessons now provide us with a framework for making an educated guess regarding whether a school is prepared to undertake the changes that are necessary to develop a successful inclusive school program. Lesson 1. Change must be supported from both the top and the bottom. Change may be initiated by anyone in a setting - a teacher or group of teachers, a principal or central office administrator, a parent. However, to be successful, change must ultimately be supported by the administration (top-down support) as well as by the teachers who must implement the change (bottom-up support). Administrative support (especially from the building principal) for developing and implementing inclusive schools is important for a number of reasons, for administrators must set an atmosphere in a school that is conducive to change and must provide teachers with a range of substantive supports. For example, as inclusive schools are being developed and implemented, principals work with teachers to: * promote the need for changes with the building staff; * provide support for program development and implementation, including time for planning changes and for staff development; * ensure that teachers are in control of changes; * ensure that the faculty members own and support changes; * ensure that the inclusive school is tailored to the needs of the local setting; * encourage risk-taking among teachers and assure them that they will be given support in the event that certain aspects of the inclusive school do not initially succeed; and * encourage ongoing evaluation and improvement of the inclusive school. Developing and implementing inclusive school programs is one of the most complex undertakings in schools today. The support of teachers is crucial. Research on teachers' perspectives on inclusion3 raises a number of issues that must be addressed to assuage teachers' fears (and ensure their support) regarding the development and implementation of inclusive school programs: Who will be included? …