Toward Equity-Oriented Special Education Through Empowering Minoritized Communities

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Racial disproportionality in special education and school discipline is a historically, sociopolitically, and spatially situated issue. Multiple individual, interpersonal, and structural factors interdependently constitute complex and nuanced patterns of disproportionality. Despite the contested nature of special education and school discipline, equity remedies are typically designed without profound consideration of local racial politics, the historical legacy of racism, ableism, and resource availability. Local stakeholders often negotiate, distort, and appropriate exogenous federal and state policies.. Technical, color-neutral compliance gestures (e.g., simply filling documents) are typical examples of endogenous policy appropriation by local stakeholders. The purpose of this symposium is to challenge technical policy compliance gestures and explore alternative approaches to develop equity-oriented remedies.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Special and Inclusive Education Research

Chairs

• Aydin Bal, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Alfredo J. Artiles, Stanford University

Papers

• DefectCraft: A Critical Cultural-Historical Framing of Disability Intersections - Alfredo J. Artiles, Stanford University

• Indigenous Insights Driving Systemic Change at Northwoods High School - Linda Orie, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Aydin Bal, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Aaron Bird Bear, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Dosun Ko, Santa Clara University; Dian Mawene, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Boris Krichevsky, University of Washington; Jahyun Yoo, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Race-Conscious Systemic Design to Address Overrepresentation of Students of Color With and Without Disabilities in School Discipline - Dosun Ko, Santa Clara University

Discussant

• Adai A. Tefera, University of Arizona