Boundary Crossing for Praxis: Exploring Transformative Equity Solutions That Move Beyond Compliance

• In Event: What Is Democracy to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act? Confronting Racism in IDEA

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide contextually situated insights into how racial disproportionality can be addressed in educational practice via a research to practice partnership rooted in Freirean (2000) culture circles and the critical cycle process that extend beyond traditional IDEA compliance oriented approaches. The study is focused on developing praxis for transformation with hopes of naming, problematizing, and reflecting on contextually situated themes to transform inequitable systems (also see Souto-Manning, 2010; 2019). The IRB approved study is qualitative and relies upon semi-structured interviews, document analyses, and culture circle transcripts. The primary participants in the culture circle process were district-level administrators working across special and general education spaces in an urban school district in the northeast. Results indicate that contextually linked research findings help shape transformative lines of practice to reduce racial disparities in special education outcomes across the meso and micro spaces of the schooling system.

Author

• Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides, Hunter College - CUNY