Ministry of Special Education

Ensuring evidence-based, inclusive education for students with disabilities — at the local and national level.

"To educate individuals with disabilities through best research evidence-based practices is to empower and administer justice to the Image of God within the individual." — Sarah Lowry

About the Program

Sarah Lowry, CEO of Love that Surpasses, brings a rare combination of lived experience and professional expertise to this initiative. As the mother of two children with disabilities, Hayden who has Level Two Autism and Emmett who has Down syndrome. She has navigated firsthand the injustices and systemic barriers that families face in securing appropriate, inclusive educational environments for individuals with moderate disabilities.

Her background as a Research Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at Stanford University — where she led oversight of the Pediatric St. Jude clinical research trials — informs a steadfast commitment to evidence-based approaches in special education advocacy.

The Ministry of Special Education Program, under Love that Surpasses, has been designed under her leadership to ensure justice, integrity, and excellence in education for students with disabilities at both the local and national levels.

While children with mild disabilities are generally afforded the opportunity to learn alongside their non-disabled peers, children with moderate disabilities are routinely — and often covertly — denied this same opportunity by the education system.

The best available research demonstrates that children with moderate disabilities are capable of being held to higher academic and social standards, and that they make meaningful progress when educated in inclusive general education settings with appropriate supports. The Ministry of Special Education exists to close the gap between what the evidence demands and what students are actually receiving.

The Research

The Alana Center at MIT released a report synthesizing evidence from more than 280 research studies conducted across 25 countries. The report concluded that inclusive educational settings produce substantial short-term and long-term benefits for cognitive and social development. Multiple systematic reviews found that students with disabilities educated in general education classrooms academically outperformed their counterparts in segregated settings.

"Inclusive Education Doubles Post-Secondary Enrollment."

A study of more than 400 students with intellectual disabilities or multiple disabilities found that students who had been educated in inclusive settings were nearly twice as likely as their non-included peers to enroll in some form of post-secondary education. Inclusive education not only benefits students during their K–12 years — it expands their horizons and life opportunities well beyond graduation.

"UNITED KINGDOM — DOWN SYNDROME INCLUSION STUDY"

Researchers identified 46 teenagers with Down syndrome who had similar family backgrounds and comparable cognitive abilities at the start of their schooling. The only variable was geography: where they lived determined whether they attended inclusive mainstream schools or segregated special education schools. Students educated in inclusive settings were approximately two and a half years ahead in expressive language, and more than three years ahead in reading, writing, and literacy skills compared to their peers in segregated settings.

"Endorsement in Theory. Exclusion in Practice."

Two surveys conducted in Spain revealed a striking disconnect between stated beliefs and actual behavior: while teachers broadly approved of inclusive education in principle, few were willing to include students with disabilities in their own classrooms. These findings underscore that structural and attitudinal barriers — not evidence — are what keep students with disabilities out of general education settings. Achieving inclusive education requires changing not just policy, but culture.