Exceptional Children, Vol. 65, No.4, pp. 524-536. ©1999 The Councilfor Exceptional Children. Classwide Peer Tutoring: Teaching Students with Mild Mental Retardation in Inclusive Classrooms SUSAN L. MORTWEET Children's Mercy Hospital CHERYL A. UTLEY DALE WALKER HARRIETT L. DAWSON JOSEPH C. DELQUADRI SHALINI S. REDDY CHARLES R. GREENWOOD Juniper Gardens Children's Project SANDY HAMILTON DEBORAH LEDFORD ME. Pearson Elementary School ABSTRACT: This study investigated the academic effects of classwidepeer tutoring (CWPT) for students with mild mental retardation (MMR) and their typical peers in inclusive classroom settings. Four students with MMR were integrated in two, general education elementary class- rooms during spelling instruction. Dependent measures included performance on weekly tests and direct observations of academic engagement. The results demonstrated increased spelling accuracy and increased levels of engagement for students with MMR and their typical peers during CWPT when compared to traditional teacher-led instruction, suggesting that CWPT is an effective instructional strategy for improving their spellingperformance. A range of perspectives on inclusive ed- ucation for students with disabilities has been voiced by disability groups, advocacy and professional organizations, and special and general educators. To determine the extent to which inclusive education programs are successful, large-scale research and evaluation studies by school districts have been conducted. These findings indicated that a strong trend ex- 524 ists toward improved student outcomes across a variety of domains for students with disabilities and their typical peers in inclusive classroom set- tings (Lipsky & Gartner, 1996). The results of these studies on students' academic outcomes have revealed the following conclusions: (a) stu- dents with severe disabilities have higher levels of academic responses and lower levels of com- peting behaviors when they are in general educa- Summer 1999