This book chronicles the professional life of a career-long, inclusive educator in New York City through eight different stages in special and general education. Developing a new approach to research as part of qualitative methodology, David J. Connor merges the academic genre of autoethnography with memoir to create a narrative that engages the reader through stories of personal experiences within the professional world that politicized him as an educator. After each chapter’s narrative, a systematic analytic commentary follows that focuses on: teaching and learning in schools and universities; the influence of educational laws; specific models of disability and how influence educators and educational researchers; and educational structures and systems—including their impact on social, political, and cultural experiences of people with disabilities. This autoethnographic memoir documents, over three decades, the relationship between special and general education, the growth of the inclusion movement, and the challenge of special education as a discrete academic field. As part of a national group of critical special educators, Connor describes the growth of counter-theory through the inception and subsequent growth of DSE as a viable academic field, and the importance of rethinking human differences in new ways.

The SAGE Handbook of Inclusion and Diversity in Education examines policy and practice from around the world, with respect to broadly conceived notions of inclusion and diversity within education. This growing and significant area of research reflects the ever-increasing expectation that not only should schools accept all students, but that they should be able to provide each student with a high-quality educational and social experience. This Handbook sets out to provide a critical and comprehensive overview of current thinking and debate around aspects such as inclusive education rights, philosophy, context, policy, systems, and practices for a global audience. This an ideal text for students, academics and researchers in the field of education, as well as those involved in policy-making, or those teaching in classrooms today. Part I: Conceptualizations and Possibilities of Inclusion and Diversity in Education; Part II: Inclusion and Diversity in Educational Practices, Policies, and Systems; and Part III: Inclusion and Diversity in Global and Local Educational Contexts.

Young people who have received special education services in the United States are vastly overrepresented in juvenile and adult criminal justice systems relative to their numbers in the general population. Although much existing research blames individual kids for getting arrested, school-level policies and practices affect a variety of student outcomes, including involvement with the justice system. These school-level policies and practices can—and should—be altered by teachers, administrators, and policy makers to reduce the number of young people getting arrested. Disabling the School-to-Prison Pipeline uses administrative data from New York City public schools and interviews with young people who have received special education services in NYC public schools and been arrested to better understand how schools can help or harm students receiving special education services. Schools cannot fix all problems associated with the criminal justice system in the United States; however, we can certainly expect schools not to make existing problems worse. This book identifies school-level policies and practices that may lead to negative outcomes for students, such as getting arrested, and suggests alternatives.

The “Strong Poet”: Essays in Honor of Lous Heshusius is an edited volume focused on the research, scholarship, and leadership of one of the earliest proponents of radical change in the field of special education. This volume is part of the series Critical Leaders and the Foundation of Disability Studies in Education, a collective history of the ecology of ideas that gave way to the emergence of the field of Disability Studies in Education (DSE). The series formalizes the value of attending to a history, distinguished by Steve Taylor (2005), as one that existed before it was named DSE. In this volume the contributors borrow from the venerable life work of Lous Heshusius, to center her original claims, early research, and the enduring challenge she posed to special education against examples from their own practice and personal histories. Each chapter recovers aspects of the genius of Heshusius that ultimately disrupted status quo thinking about disability. Specifically her attention to recognizing the lives and desires of those that society too often relegates to categories and contexts devoid of self-direction and authentic agency. In brief, we find in Heshusius, a researcher who sought to privilege the voice of individuals with disability. She was among those who drew from and elaborated upon the methods and tools of qualitative research. Contributors are: Julie Allan, Alicia A. Broderick, Danielle M. Cowley, Deborah J. Gallagher, Emily A. Nusbaum, and Linda Ware.

Embracing Diversity is about the craft of teaching, with a particular focus on celebrating the myriad of human identities through classic, contemporary, and unconventional texts. Experienced secondary English language arts educators narrate their own experiences and provide insights through reflecting upon aspects of everyday pedagogy. Featuring a rich array of texts designed to be both familiar and unfamiliar to the reader, the authors explore complex issues raised by a diverse body of writers, while simultaneously sharing methods that engage students to think critically. Topics include how students’ learning is influenced by their identities; the importance of building relationships; creating a balanced curriculum; developing cultural responsivity and cultural sustainability; confronting (dis)comfort zones; adapting to different educational contexts; and considering how the COVID-19 pandemic changed teaching. This teacher-friendly resource illustrates how reflective practitioners are assisted in their goal of teaching literacy skills while encompassing issues of social justice. Book Features: Multiple examples of classroom activities for the secondary ELA classroom. User-friendly text boxes highlighting points of interest.Questions at the end of each chapter to help readers reflect on their own practices.Detailed appendices featuring recommended books and practical resources.

The second edition of The SAGE Handbook of Special Education provides a comprehensive overview of special education, offering a wide range of views on key issues from all over the world. The contributors bring together up-to-date theory, research and innovations in practice, with an emphasis on future directions for the role of special education in a global context of inclusion. This brand new edition features: " New chapters on families, interagency collaboration and issues of lifelong learning " The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities " Policy reform proposals " Equity and social justice in education " The impact of new thinking on assessment " Issues and developments in classification " The preparation and qualifications that teachers need The Handbook′s breadth, clarity and academic rigour will make it essential reading for researchers and postgraduate students, and also for practitioners, teachers, school managers and administrators.

Ideal for literacy methods and elementary instruction courses, this book brings together three strands of educational practice—Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP), Disability Sustaining Pedagogy (DSP), and balanced literacy—to present a cohesive, comprehensive framework for literacy instruction that meets the needs of all learners. Situating balanced literacy instruction within the current debate on how to best teach elementary school literacy, this book prepares pre-service and in-service teachers to work with racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse students of all abilities and disabilities and addresses effective curriculum design, lesson planning, and assessment. Chapters offer real-world classroom examples and lesson plans, charts, and discussion guides for CSP/DSP-infused instruction for each component of a balanced literacy instructional block.

Towards Inclusion of All Learners through Science Teacher Education serves as an indispensable resource for teachers and teacher educators wishing to understand how to educate students with exceptionalities in science. This book begins with the voices and stories of the experts: current and former K-12 students with disabilities sharing their experiences in science education classrooms. The voices of students with disabilities are then connected to the work of leading experts in the area of science education for individuals with disabilities in an effort to address the goals of national reform documents by ensuring rigorous science experiences for all students. It is written in a highly accessible and practical manner, making it ideal for all educators including pre-service and in-service teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and curriculum developers.

In Understanding the Boundary between Disability Studies and Special Education through Consilience, Self-Study, and Radical Love, the authors explore what it means to engage in boundary work at the intersection of traditional special education systems and critical disability studies in education. The book consists of fifteen groundbreaking accounts that challenge dominant medicalized discourses about what it means to exist within and around special education systems that create space for new conceptions of what it means to teach, lead, learn, and exist within a conciliatory space driven by radical love and disability justice principles. The book pushes readers to consider how their own personal, professional and programmatic future transformational actions can be driven by disruption and the desire for freedom from the hegemony of traditional special education and White and Ability supremacy.

Disability and Teaching highlights issues of disability in K-12 schooling faced by teachers, who are increasingly accountable for the achievement of all students regardless of the labels assigned to them. It is designed to engage prospective and practicing teachers in examining their personal theories and beliefs about disability and education. Part I offers four case studies dealing with issues such as inclusion, over-representation in special education, teacher assumptions and biases, and the struggles of novice teachers. These cases illustrate the need to understand disability and teaching within the contexts of school, community, and the broader society and in relation to other contemporary issues facing teachers. Each is followed by space for readers to write their own reactions and reflections, educators’ dialogue about the case, space for readers’ reactions to the educators’ dialogue, a summary, and additional questions. Part II presents public arguments representing different views about the topic: conservative, liberal-progressive, and disability centered. Part III situates the authors’ personal views within the growing field of Disability Studies in education and provides exercises for further reflection and a list of resources. Disability and Teaching is the 8th volume in the Reflective Teaching and the Social Conditions of Schooling Series, edited by Daniel P. Liston and Kenneth M. Zeichner. This series of small, accessible, interactive texts introduces the notion of teacher reflection and develops it in relation to the social conditions of schooling. Each text focuses on a specific issue or content area in relation to teaching and follows the same format. Books in this series are appropriate for teacher education courses across the curriculum.