Going Upstream: Radical Change in the Midst of Mediocrity

• In Event: Approaching the Vision: Disability Studies in Education Praxis

Abstract

[Xxxxxx] College is the first special education licensure program in the country to require its' candidates to participate in a year-long class which teaches grassroots organizing skills within a civic-agency curriculum known as Public Achievement. Interviews and survey data were conducted with alumni of the program and results are reported. Result from research on a civic-agency curriculum embedded in a special education licensure program show that teachers have an increased sense of capacity and self-efficacy, stronger intentions of staying in the field of special education, and a positive shift in perceptions of youth identified with significant disabilities.

Authors

• Donna R. Patterson, Augsburg College

• Susan Elizabeth O'Connor, Augsburg University