Disability, Culture, and Equity Series – serie

This comprehensive book is grounded in the authentic experiences of educators who have done, and continue to do, the messy everyday work of transformative school reform. The work of these contributors, in conjunction with research done under the aegis of the National Institute of Urban School Improvement (NIUSI), demonstrates how schools and classrooms can move from a deficit model to a culturally responsive model that works for all learners. To strengthen relationships between research and practise, chapters are coauthored by a practitioner/researcher team and include a case study of an authentic urban reform situation. This volume will help practitioners, reformers, and researchers make use of emerging knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy to implement reforms that are more congruent with the strengths and needs of urban education contexts.

This comprehensive book is grounded in the authentic experiences of educators who have done, and continue to do, the messy everyday work of transformative school reform. The work of these contributors, in conjunction with research done under the aegis of the National Institute of Urban School Improvement (NIUSI), demonstrates how schools and classrooms can move from a deficit model to a culturally responsive model that works for all learners. To strengthen relationships between research and practise, chapters are coauthored by a practitioner/researcher team and include a case study of an authentic urban reform situation. This volume will help practitioners, reformers, and researchers make use of emerging knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy to implement reforms that are more congruent with the strengths and needs of urban education contexts.

How do high school students confront and resolve conflicting messages about their intelligence and academic potential, particularly when labelled with social and learning disabilities? How does disability become “disablement” when negative attitudes and disparaging perceptions of ability position students as outsiders? Following the lives of adolescents at home as well as in and out of school, the author makes visible the disabling language, contextual arrangements, and unconscious social practices that restrict learning regardless of special education services. She also showcases how young people resist disablement to transform their worlds and pursue pathways most important to them. Educators can use this important resource to recognise and change disabling practices that are often taken for granted as a natural part of schooling.

How do high school students confront and resolve conflicting messages about their intelligence and academic potential, particularly when labelled with social and learning disabilities? How does disability become “disablement” when negative attitudes and disparaging perceptions of ability position students as outsiders? Following the lives of adolescents at home as well as in and out of school, the author makes visible the disabling language, contextual arrangements, and unconscious social practices that restrict learning regardless of special education services. She also showcases how young people resist disablement to transform their worlds and pursue pathways most important to them. Educators can use this important resource to recognise and change disabling practices that are often taken for granted as a natural part of schooling.

In this groundbreaking volume, scholars examine the achievement/opportunity gaps from both historical and contemporary perspectives, as well as the overrepresentation of minority students in special education and the school-to-prison pipeline. Chapters also address school reform and the impact on students based on race, class, and dis/ability and the capacity of law and policy to include (and exclude).

In this groundbreaking volume, scholars examine the achievement/opportunity gaps from both historical and contemporary perspectives, as well as the overrepresentation of minority students in special education and the school-to-prison pipeline. Chapters also address school reform and the impact on students based on race, class, and dis/ability and the capacity of law and policy to include (and exclude).

This book examines how the use of the “atrisk” category and label creates problems for students and teachers. Drawing from research across various education sites, the author illustrates how educators recognize the label’s potential to redress issues of equity, but warns that it can also stigmatize the students so labeled. She explores how the labeling and subsequent practices by teachers and schools actually affect students, such as classifying many individuals as deficient. The text provides a historical overview, discusses the role of federal education policy and teaching, and includes tools to help readers acquire more complex, critical understandings of risk in education practice. After the “At-Risk” Label not only challenges the education community to reorient itself to a more equitable discourse, it provides a framework for changing the structural conditions of schooling to better serve all students. Book Features: Offers a critical appraisal of how schools, policy, and teachers may be complicit in exacerbating conditions that lead to risk. Shows how race and class biases might be manifested in the “at risk” identification process. Outlines a framework for making sense of, and acting in response to, risk that attends to both the individual and the institutional. Provides a set of key questions, terms, and a list of extended activities in each chapter.

Transitions to adulthood for adolescents with disabilities are as diverse as the adolescents themselves. While there have been marked improvements for students with disabilities, there is still concern that employment education and independent living outcomes are not equitable across groups of students. For example, adolescents of color are more likely to face exclusionary discipline procedures in school resulting in detention and court involvement which, in turn, can limit access to educational opportunities in inclusive settings. Recommending a shift toward strengths-based approaches to research and practice, Trainor explores how all stakeholders, including researchers and practitioners, can help shape equitable opportunities for youth with disabilities in transition. Transition by Design reframes disability, diversity, and equity during the transition from high school to adulthood. Book Features: uses a unique theoretical framework in transition: cultivating a culture of practice; lays out an in-depth examination of the school-to-prison pipeline as a major issue in transition; examines health status and healthcare access issues relative to transition; calls for culturally responsive approaches to research by exposing the limitations of intervention methods and holes in the extant literature.

Transitions to adulthood for adolescents with disabilities are as diverse as the adolescents themselves. While there have been marked improvements for students with disabilities, there is still concern that employment education and independent living outcomes are not equitable across groups of students. For example, adolescents of color are more likely to face exclusionary discipline procedures in school resulting in detention and court involvement which, in turn, can limit access to educational opportunities in inclusive settings. Recommending a shift toward strengths-based approaches to research and practice, Trainor explores how all stakeholders, including researchers and practitioners, can help shape equitable opportunities for youth with disabilities in transition. Transition by Design reframes disability, diversity, and equity during the transition from high school to adulthood. Book Features: uses a unique theoretical framework in transition: cultivating a culture of practice; lays out an in-depth examination of the school-to-prison pipeline as a major issue in transition; examines health status and healthcare access issues relative to transition; calls for culturally responsive approaches to research by exposing the limitations of intervention methods and holes in the extant literature.

The author offers eight guiding principles that can be used to advance an inclusive pedagogy. These principles permit teachers to both acknowledge and draw from the conditions within which they work, even as they uphold their commitments to equitable schooling for students from historically marginalized groups, particularly students with disabilities.

The author offers eight guiding principles that can be used to advance an inclusive pedagogy. These principles permit teachers to both acknowledge and draw from the conditions within which they work, even as they uphold their commitments to equitable schooling for students from historically marginalized groups, particularly students with disabilities.

Providing both a theoretical framework and practical strategies, this resource will help teachers, counselors, and related service providers develop understanding and empathy to improve outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with disabilities. The text features narrative portraits of six immigrant families and their children with disabilities, including their cultural histories and personal perspectives regarding assessment, diagnosis, Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings, and other instances in which families engaged with the special education process. Using guiding questions for reflection and “Talk Back” comments from preservice students throughout the text, readers are encouraged to reflect on their own positionality and to develop nuanced and dynamic understandings of CLD children, youth, and families—countering persistent and stereotypical deficit views.Book Features:In-depth descriptions of immigrant family ecologies.Strategies for challenging a system that has been implicated in the over-representation of minorities in special education.Artwork, photographs, and other materials from students and families.“Talk Back” sections featuring personal reflections and feedback on the portrait narratives from preservice teachers.Questions at the end of each portrait narrative chapter to facilitate meaningful classroom discussions.A personal action plan framework to guide improvements in cultural competence and inclusive special education practices.

Providing both a theoretical framework and practical strategies, this resource will help teachers, counselors, and related service providers develop understanding and empathy to improve outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with disabilities. The text features narrative portraits of six immigrant families and their children with disabilities, including their cultural histories and personal perspectives regarding assessment, diagnosis, Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings, and other instances in which families engaged with the special education process. Using guiding questions for reflection and “Talk Back” comments from preservice students throughout the text, readers are encouraged to reflect on their own positionality and to develop nuanced and dynamic understandings of CLD children, youth, and families—countering persistent and stereotypical deficit views.Book Features:In-depth descriptions of immigrant family ecologies.Strategies for challenging a system that has been implicated in the over-representation of minorities in special education.Artwork, photographs, and other materials from students and families.“Talk Back” sections featuring personal reflections and feedback on the portrait narratives from preservice teachers.Questions at the end of each portrait narrative chapter to facilitate meaningful classroom discussions.A personal action plan framework to guide improvements in cultural competence and inclusive special education practices.

This book presents an in-depth discussion of how human disability and parental advocacy have been constructed in American society, including recommendations for a more authentically inclusive vision of parental advocacy. The authors provide a cultural–historical view of the conflation of racism, classism, and ableism that have left a deeply entrenched stigma-one that positions children with disabilities and children of color as less valuable than others. To redress these inequities, the authors offer a working model of co-constructed advocacy designed to benefit all families. Because advocacy is not a "one size fits all" endeavor, the authors propose meeting families where they are and learning their strengths and needs, while preparing and repositioning families to empower themselves.Book Features:Takes a cultural–historical view that explores the reasons why individuals with disabilities are so stigmatized. Shows how the intersection of different stigmatized identity markers, such as poverty, race, and language, have been woven into negative interpretations of "difference."Celebrates the history of parent advocacy in the United States since World War II. Examines how social and racial privilege have dictated which parent voices are heard. Proposes collaborative approaches that can produce more authentic and more representative advocacy.Explores the motivations and purposes that drive parent advocacy.

This book presents an in-depth discussion of how human disability and parental advocacy have been constructed in American society, including recommendations for a more authentically inclusive vision of parental advocacy. The authors provide a cultural–historical view of the conflation of racism, classism, and ableism that have left a deeply entrenched stigma-one that positions children with disabilities and children of color as less valuable than others. To redress these inequities, the authors offer a working model of co-constructed advocacy designed to benefit all families. Because advocacy is not a "one size fits all" endeavor, the authors propose meeting families where they are and learning their strengths and needs, while preparing and repositioning families to empower themselves.Book Features:Takes a cultural–historical view that explores the reasons why individuals with disabilities are so stigmatized. Shows how the intersection of different stigmatized identity markers, such as poverty, race, and language, have been woven into negative interpretations of "difference."Celebrates the history of parent advocacy in the United States since World War II. Examines how social and racial privilege have dictated which parent voices are heard. Proposes collaborative approaches that can produce more authentic and more representative advocacy.Explores the motivations and purposes that drive parent advocacy.

Through powerful narratives of parents of Black and Latinx students with disabilities, this book provides a unique look at the relationship between disability, race, urban space, and market-driven educational policies. Offering significant insights into complex forms of educational exclusion, the text illustrates the actual challenges and paradoxes of school choice faced by today's parents. Included are explanations for the kinds of injustices students with disabilities face every day, as well as resources that can be helpful for engaging in collective action aimed at improving educational services for all children. This accessible resource offers recommendations to help policymakers, charter school administrators, teachers, and families tackle the challenges of school choice while dealing effectively with the new generation of inclusive schools.Book Features:Presents a first-of-its-kind look at how Black and Latinx parents of students with disabilities experience market-driven approaches to education. Identifies the consequences of push-out practices in charter schools and how families experience and resist these practices. Situates school choice amid historical and compounding forms of exclusion associated with geographical (neighborhood) and social (disability, race, and class) locations.Provides lessons learned and valuable guidance for creating a new generation of inclusive charter schools.

Through powerful narratives of parents of Black and Latinx students with disabilities, this book provides a unique look at the relationship between disability, race, urban space, and market-driven educational policies. Offering significant insights into complex forms of educational exclusion, the text illustrates the actual challenges and paradoxes of school choice faced by today's parents. Included are explanations for the kinds of injustices students with disabilities face every day, as well as resources that can be helpful for engaging in collective action aimed at improving educational services for all children. This accessible resource offers recommendations to help policymakers, charter school administrators, teachers, and families tackle the challenges of school choice while dealing effectively with the new generation of inclusive schools.Book Features:Presents a first-of-its-kind look at how Black and Latinx parents of students with disabilities experience market-driven approaches to education. Identifies the consequences of push-out practices in charter schools and how families experience and resist these practices. Situates school choice amid historical and compounding forms of exclusion associated with geographical (neighborhood) and social (disability, race, and class) locations.Provides lessons learned and valuable guidance for creating a new generation of inclusive charter schools.

This book presents a framework for addressing intersectionality within educational spaces to combat the cumulative effects of systemic marginalization due to race, gender, disability, class, sexual orientation, and other identity-based labels. Readers can use the framework to consider the impact of identities that individuals adopt or are assigned, move beyond discrete subgroup labels, and fully consider how such markers impact how education policy and research are developed, enacted, and experienced. The text presents examples of existing systems (education, law, medicine, and juvenile justice) as experienced by individuals with intersectional social identities. Each chapter provides an innovative framework that highlights diverse ways of knowing, generating insights that can inform more equitable policy analysis, research, and practice.Book Features:A protocol for applying an intersectionality-based analytic (IBA) approach to education policy, research, and practice.Case study examples of how IBA can be implemented to improve decision making across disciplines and by various stakeholders.Guiding questions that can be used to develop complex research questions and methods that interrupt power differentials within research and policymaking processes.

This book presents a framework for addressing intersectionality within educational spaces to combat the cumulative effects of systemic marginalization due to race, gender, disability, class, sexual orientation, and other identity-based labels. Readers can use the framework to consider the impact of identities that individuals adopt or are assigned, move beyond discrete subgroup labels, and fully consider how such markers impact how education policy and research are developed, enacted, and experienced. The text presents examples of existing systems (education, law, medicine, and juvenile justice) as experienced by individuals with intersectional social identities. Each chapter provides an innovative framework that highlights diverse ways of knowing, generating insights that can inform more equitable policy analysis, research, and practice.Book Features:A protocol for applying an intersectionality-based analytic (IBA) approach to education policy, research, and practice.Case study examples of how IBA can be implemented to improve decision making across disciplines and by various stakeholders.Guiding questions that can be used to develop complex research questions and methods that interrupt power differentials within research and policymaking processes.

You've read the history and the background, now meet the families! This companion book to Meeting Families Where They Are traces the advocacy journeys of 12 caregivers across a range of racial, ethnic, social, disability, economic, and family identities. The stories reflect the unique lives, histories, and needs of each family, as well as the different approaches they employ to meet the needs of their children. Caregivers indicate when they began to advocate; describe how they continue their efforts across schools, medical offices, therapies, communities, and virtual spaces; and discuss how they adapt to changing social and health climates and educational delivery modes. They also share their collective wisdom to assist other parents who are new to the advocacy platform or are feeling discouraged with the process. This is must-reading for family members, teachers, administrators, health care personnel, and everyone invested in creating a culture of respect, love, and understanding.Book Features:Emphasizes how families have resisted the deficit-based view of their children while still utilizing systems of support.Identifies gaps and challenges across multiple systems, as well as "what's working."Incorporates the fields of special education and disability studies in education.Uses the framework of DisCrit to explore how disability and other social identities operate in tandem, examining concepts such as power, access, privilege, and barriers. Positions caregivers as experts in their children's lives, illustrating how they advocate for their children, teens, and young adults. Takes a deep dive into the nuances of generational, cultural, organizational, and geographical factors that impact how caregivers advocate. Resists approaches that typically involve professionals dictating what families need, centering instead on a collaborative model that includes families and professionals.

You've read the history and the background, now meet the families! This companion book to Meeting Families Where They Are traces the advocacy journeys of 12 caregivers across a range of racial, ethnic, social, disability, economic, and family identities. The stories reflect the unique lives, histories, and needs of each family, as well as the different approaches they employ to meet the needs of their children. Caregivers indicate when they began to advocate; describe how they continue their efforts across schools, medical offices, therapies, communities, and virtual spaces; and discuss how they adapt to changing social and health climates and educational delivery modes. They also share their collective wisdom to assist other parents who are new to the advocacy platform or are feeling discouraged with the process. This is must-reading for family members, teachers, administrators, health care personnel, and everyone invested in creating a culture of respect, love, and understanding.Book Features:Emphasizes how families have resisted the deficit-based view of their children while still utilizing systems of support.Identifies gaps and challenges across multiple systems, as well as "what's working."Incorporates the fields of special education and disability studies in education.Uses the framework of DisCrit to explore how disability and other social identities operate in tandem, examining concepts such as power, access, privilege, and barriers. Positions caregivers as experts in their children's lives, illustrating how they advocate for their children, teens, and young adults. Takes a deep dive into the nuances of generational, cultural, organizational, and geographical factors that impact how caregivers advocate. Resists approaches that typically involve professionals dictating what families need, centering instead on a collaborative model that includes families and professionals.

This sequel to the influential 2016 work DisCrit—Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory in Education explores how DisCrit has both deepened and expanded, providing increasingly nuanced understandings about how racism and ableism circulate across geographic borders, academic disciplines, multiplicative identities, intersecting oppressions, and individual and cultural resistances. Following an incisive introduction by DisCrit intellectual forerunner Alfredo Artiles, a diverse group of authors engage in inward, outward, and margin-to-margin analyses that raise deep and enduring questions about how we as scholars and teachers account for and counteract the collusive nature of oppressions faced by minoritized individuals with disabilities, particularly in educational contexts. Contributors ask readers to consider incisive questions such as: What are the affordances and constraints of DisCrit as it travels outside of U.S. contexts? How can DisCrit, as a critical and intersectional framework, be used to support and extend diverse forms of activism, expanded solidarities, and collective resistance? How can DisCrit inform and be augmented by engagements with other critical theories and modes of inquiry? How can DisCrit help to illuminate agency and resistance among learners with complex learning needs? How might DisCrit inform legal studies and other disciplinary and interdisciplinary contexts? How can DisCrit be a critical friend to interrogations involving issues of citizenship, language, and more? Book Features:Expands the discussion on DisCrit to include issues of language, citizenship, and post-secondary education, and more.Presents a robust engagement with DisCrit that reaches across disciplines, geographies, and temporalities.Highlights the lived experience of people with disabilities as knowledge generators fighting against the collusive power of racism and ableism.Recognizes that disability is complex, multifaceted, and not bound by labels for Black people, Indigenous People, and other People of Color in educational experiences and throughout the lifespanFurther explores the discussion on DisCrit while encouraging disability scholars to substantially integrate racism into their analyses, and for race scholars to do the same with ableism.

This sequel to the influential 2016 work DisCrit—Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory in Education explores how DisCrit has both deepened and expanded, providing increasingly nuanced understandings about how racism and ableism circulate across geographic borders, academic disciplines, multiplicative identities, intersecting oppressions, and individual and cultural resistances. Following an incisive introduction by DisCrit intellectual forerunner Alfredo Artiles, a diverse group of authors engage in inward, outward, and margin-to-margin analyses that raise deep and enduring questions about how we as scholars and teachers account for and counteract the collusive nature of oppressions faced by minoritized individuals with disabilities, particularly in educational contexts. Contributors ask readers to consider incisive questions such as: What are the affordances and constraints of DisCrit as it travels outside of U.S. contexts? How can DisCrit, as a critical and intersectional framework, be used to support and extend diverse forms of activism, expanded solidarities, and collective resistance? How can DisCrit inform and be augmented by engagements with other critical theories and modes of inquiry? How can DisCrit help to illuminate agency and resistance among learners with complex learning needs? How might DisCrit inform legal studies and other disciplinary and interdisciplinary contexts? How can DisCrit be a critical friend to interrogations involving issues of citizenship, language, and more? Book Features:Expands the discussion on DisCrit to include issues of language, citizenship, and post-secondary education, and more.Presents a robust engagement with DisCrit that reaches across disciplines, geographies, and temporalities.Highlights the lived experience of people with disabilities as knowledge generators fighting against the collusive power of racism and ableism.Recognizes that disability is complex, multifaceted, and not bound by labels for Black people, Indigenous People, and other People of Color in educational experiences and throughout the lifespanFurther explores the discussion on DisCrit while encouraging disability scholars to substantially integrate racism into their analyses, and for race scholars to do the same with ableism.

The decades-long problem of disproportionate school discipline and school-based arrests of students with disabilities, particularly those who also identify as Black or Native American, is explored in this authoritative book. A team of interdisciplinary scholars, attorneys, and education practitioners focus on how disparities based on disability intersect with race and ethnicity, why such disparities occur, and the impacts these disparities have over time. A DisCrit and research-based perspective frames key issues at the beginning of the book, and the chapters that follow suggest promising practices and approaches to reduce the inequitable use of school discipline and increase the use of evidence-supported alternatives to prevent and respond to behaviors of students with disabilities. The final chapter recommends future research, policy, legal, and practice goals, suggesting an agenda for moving the field forward in years to come.Book Features:Explores how students' disabilities, race, ethnicity, and gender intersect to explain how they are negatively impacted by the overuse of suspension, expulsion, and school policing. Focuses on practical changes to the approaches of research, practice, and policy to remedy this long-standing problem.Presents an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together the expertise of scholars, attorneys, and educational practitioners to address the issues from a variety of perspectives.Draws on DisCrit (Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory) to explore the intersection of race and ethnicity, particularly among students who are Black or from a Native American background and are considered "disabled."

The decades-long problem of disproportionate school discipline and school-based arrests of students with disabilities, particularly those who also identify as Black or Native American, is explored in this authoritative book. A team of interdisciplinary scholars, attorneys, and education practitioners focus on how disparities based on disability intersect with race and ethnicity, why such disparities occur, and the impacts these disparities have over time. A DisCrit and research-based perspective frames key issues at the beginning of the book, and the chapters that follow suggest promising practices and approaches to reduce the inequitable use of school discipline and increase the use of evidence-supported alternatives to prevent and respond to behaviors of students with disabilities. The final chapter recommends future research, policy, legal, and practice goals, suggesting an agenda for moving the field forward in years to come.Book Features:Explores how students' disabilities, race, ethnicity, and gender intersect to explain how they are negatively impacted by the overuse of suspension, expulsion, and school policing. Focuses on practical changes to the approaches of research, practice, and policy to remedy this long-standing problem.Presents an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together the expertise of scholars, attorneys, and educational practitioners to address the issues from a variety of perspectives.Draws on DisCrit (Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory) to explore the intersection of race and ethnicity, particularly among students who are Black or from a Native American background and are considered "disabled."

Step outside of the IEPs and behavioral paperwork currently generated in schools, go where disabled people are thriving today, and see the results in learning, growth, and expression. This authoritative book offers readers alternative ways to think about learning and behavior in special education. Through illustrative case studies and a disability studies lens, author Erin McCloskey uses the voices of people with disabilities to show how these students progress creatively outside the classroom and school building—at the dojo, the riding arena, the theater stage, the music studio, and other community-centered spaces where disabled students can make choices about their learning, their bodies, and their goals. Balancing theory and practice, the book describes alternative learning spaces, demonstrates how disabled students learn there, and passes on the important lessons learned in each space. The ideas apply to students of all ages with a wide variety of disabilities. Book Features:Uses the voices of people with disabilities to promote alternative ways to think about learning and behavior in special education.Presents rich case studies and briefer interludes to illustrate how disabled students are learning and thriving in surprising ways outside of school where they have opportunities to explore. Distills important key takeaways from each case study through chapter sections of “lessons learned.”Promotes informed discussion of the concepts in the book with questions at the end of each chapter.Combines theory and practice to help readers put the concepts into action in a variety of settings with a variety of disabled students.

Step outside of the IEPs and behavioral paperwork currently generated in schools, go where disabled people are thriving today, and see the results in learning, growth, and expression. This authoritative book offers readers alternative ways to think about learning and behavior in special education. Through illustrative case studies and a disability studies lens, author Erin McCloskey uses the voices of people with disabilities to show how these students progress creatively outside the classroom and school building—at the dojo, the riding arena, the theater stage, the music studio, and other community-centered spaces where disabled students can make choices about their learning, their bodies, and their goals. Balancing theory and practice, the book describes alternative learning spaces, demonstrates how disabled students learn there, and passes on the important lessons learned in each space. The ideas apply to students of all ages with a wide variety of disabilities. Book Features:Uses the voices of people with disabilities to promote alternative ways to think about learning and behavior in special education.Presents rich case studies and briefer interludes to illustrate how disabled students are learning and thriving in surprising ways outside of school where they have opportunities to explore. Distills important key takeaways from each case study through chapter sections of “lessons learned.”Promotes informed discussion of the concepts in the book with questions at the end of each chapter.Combines theory and practice to help readers put the concepts into action in a variety of settings with a variety of disabled students.

This book positions disproportionality as not solely a special education issue but, rather, a broader issue of educational inequality. Disproportionality in special education parallels a persistent history of chronic socioeconomic and racial inequalities relating to the country's history of denying educational opportunities to students of color, multilingual students, students with disabilities, and those at the intersections of these identities. This book draws on the authors' experiences as technical assistance providers with the Center for Disproportionality, coupled with the latest research findings on the causes of racial disproportionality in general and special education. Dismantling Disproportionality examines four district case studies, showing how each progresses from theory to practice in delivering educational services to all students. The authors conclude that the most effective way to address disproportionality is to use a culturally responsive educational systems approach that critically engages practitioners at the intersection of beliefs, policies, procedures, and practices. Book Features:Offers a concrete, multipronged approach to disrupt and dismantle disproportionality in education.Takes a systemic approach to disproportionality that centers culturally responsive and sustaining education. Describes a framework that can be used at the teacher and school building level, in teacher and leadership preparation programs, and with districts and state education agencies. Provides useful reflection questions, key takeaways, and tools for readers.

This book positions disproportionality as not solely a special education issue but, rather, a broader issue of educational inequality. Disproportionality in special education parallels a persistent history of chronic socioeconomic and racial inequalities relating to the country's history of denying educational opportunities to students of color, multilingual students, students with disabilities, and those at the intersections of these identities. This book draws on the authors' experiences as technical assistance providers with the Center for Disproportionality, coupled with the latest research findings on the causes of racial disproportionality in general and special education. Dismantling Disproportionality examines four district case studies, showing how each progresses from theory to practice in delivering educational services to all students. The authors conclude that the most effective way to address disproportionality is to use a culturally responsive educational systems approach that critically engages practitioners at the intersection of beliefs, policies, procedures, and practices. Book Features:Offers a concrete, multipronged approach to disrupt and dismantle disproportionality in education.Takes a systemic approach to disproportionality that centers culturally responsive and sustaining education. Describes a framework that can be used at the teacher and school building level, in teacher and leadership preparation programs, and with districts and state education agencies. Provides useful reflection questions, key takeaways, and tools for readers.