Curricular Access: The Complicated Quest for the Holy Grail

• In Event: 28.091 - Sheraton Roundtable Session Two - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 28.091-6 - Critical Issues in Curriculum: Everything Great and Small

Abstract

The Grail is a metaphor for something difficult to obtain but highly desirable. Curricular access has been the Grail signifying inclusion and equity for students with disabilities. Those considered less cognitively “able” have historically been denied academic access. Two qualitative investigations explored the power of curriculum, how access was enacted, and the contradictory rationales for decisions. Special educators were found to be losing faith in the quest for access and choosing segregation over the competitiveness in test prep-focused general education classrooms. In a “post truth” era guarantees of curricular access cannot be taken for granted, settling for segregation is unacceptable, and opportunities to engage with scholars from different disciplines on how academic knowledge is conceived, bestowed and withheld is essential.

Author

• Maria T. Timberlake, SUNY - College at Cortland