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EOL 586
Spring 2019

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- Research shows that diverse children often overrepresented within the special education population
- Barriers exist such as poverty, language, and assessment and examiner bias and lack of culture sensitivity
- Social justice practices and leadership is desperately needed in this often forgotten and underserved population

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As a special educator for 17 years, I have long been witness to what civil rights data collections are showing now is pervasive-there is a disproportionately high representation of students of color identified for special education. Additionally, special education students of color face higher risk rates of disciplinary referrals for suspensions, alternative school assignments, and expulsions, which correlate to lower graduation rates.

There's an irony as education for students with special needs was born out of the civil rights movement. Too often other variables such as language, poverty, assessment practices, and lack of professional development and cultural competence support for teachers have played too big a role, resulting in unnecessary services or students learning in inappropriately restrictive environments.

I remember early in my career proctoring an educational assessment as part of an initial eligibility for a student's consideration into specialized education. The referral came from a general education teacher who said, "He just isn't getting the content." While administering the test, I saw a test filled with cultural biases, and the result was a boy being assigned to a self-contained class unnecessarily. Fortunately that student's case manager advocated and the case was made for a less restrictive environment. Too many kids don't have such an advocate.

As the demographics of our nation's schools become more racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse, we must closely inspect disproportionality to ensure we create equitable learning communities. There are practices that may reduce disproportionality, including pre-referral interventions, family engagement, instructional practices for collaboration in the general curriculum, and professional development, to improve student outcomes.

For years there have been documented situations where minority students have experienced inadequate services, low-quality curriculum, and isolation from their nondisabled peers. I taught minority students in both inclusionary and pullout settings at a high-needs school. At one point I serviced 40 students in grades K-5. What drove me was the fact these students and their parents were expecting me do right by those students so they could be successful beyond elementary school. To not do right by them meant they would potentially fall victim to even more dire circumstances related to poverty.

In grades 4-5, I co-taught with the classroom teacher, co-planning and making sure our lessons included strategies to make sure all students in that class were successful. This kept students in the classroom and pushed them to succeed. The results were not only evident in their IEP progress but also on their standardized test data. The most compelling evidence was in their classroom discourse. The level of engagement they had with their peers regarding what they were learning was powerful and the sense of self-confidence they exuded was infectious. We also spent a lot of time educating parents of their rights and how to advocate for their child. We wanted to them to feel empowered and informed on how to access resources or voice concerns about their child's plan. Reducing disparities for special education students can mean the difference between lifelong success or failure.
Lisa Coates is a Josalyn Tresvant McGhee taught special education in Memphis, Tennessee, for six years and is a current Classroom Teaching Ambassador Fellow. veteran special education teacher in Virginia and was a 2010 Classroom Teaching Ambassador Fellow.

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Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Blog

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As a special educator for 17 years, I have long been witness to what civil rights data collections are showing now is pervasive-there is a disproportionately high representation of students of color identified for special education. Additionally, special education students of color face higher risk rates of disciplinary referrals for suspensions, alternative school assignments, and expulsions, which correlate to lower graduation rates.

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I believe that when schools are committed to social justice, not only do the students benefit, but the entire community. 

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I believe that when schools are committed to social justice, not only do the students benefit, but the entire community. 

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Shields (2010) writes that the concept of transformative leadership is what is needed to enact this large scale change and overall community improvement.

"Transformative educational leadership begins by challenging inappropriate uses of power and privilege by challenging inappropriate uses of power and privilege that create or perpetuate inequity and injustice" (pg 564)

I found Shield's distinction between transactional, transformational, and transformative leadership to be both helpful and refreshing. Far too often teachers and administrators will identify an area that needs change and why this change is needed, but the extra step to materialize this change is not always taken

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"To me, social justice is a place where everyone is free to achieve everything they are capable of doing--where there's an even playing field for everybody" -Charles L. Robbins

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"To me, social justice is a place where everyone is free to achieve everything they are capable of doing--where there's an even playing field for everybody" -Charles L. Robbins

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Social Justice is More Relevant Today Than Ever Before 

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Social Justice is More Relevant Today Than Ever Before 

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0:00 / 0:30•Watch full video

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Social justice -- is it still relevant in the 21st century? | Charles L. Robbins | TEDxSBU

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I believe that social justice in education is about ensuring that all students are treated fairly and with dignity. 

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I believe that social justice in education is about ensuring that all students are treated fairly and with dignity. 

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All students, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and level of functioning deserve to feel safe at school. They also deserve adequate resources they need to learn and thrive- including technology, books, and access to art and music programs.

This adheres to Scanlan and Theoharis' idea of socially just schooling (see next box)

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Scanlan, M. & Theoharis, G. (2015) Intersectionality in educational leadership. In G. Theoharis & M. Scanlan (Eds.), Leadership for increasingly diverse Schools (pp.1-10). New York, NY: Routledge

Dantley, M, E. & Tillman, L, C. (2010). Social justice and moral transformative leadership. In C. Marshall & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for Social Justice: Making Revolution in Education ₍₂ nd ed.) (pp. 19-34). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Shields, C.M. (2010). Transformative leadership: Working for equity in diverse contexts. Educational Administration Quarterly, ₄₆, 558-589.

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Christine's words resonated with me in the sense that learning to speak up, make noise, and question the system were a learning process for her. While I have yet to achieve the level of activism she has, I am inspired at her commitment to her young students and have felt the exact same frustration with my school district.

Scanlas and Theoharis (2015) outline the idea that we must just not define social justice leadership, but we must develop effective social justice practices that get results.

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According to Scanlan and Theoharos (2015)...
-Educational opportunities readily accessible for all students
- All students set AND meet challenging academic goals
- All students and families feel welcome within school community
- Students are proportionally distributed across all groupings in the school
- Aspects such as language, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender do not directly negatively affect a student's academic performance (poor grades, withdrawing from school)

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The Antithesis of Socially Just Leadership

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The Antithesis of Socially Just Leadership

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It is truly disheartening that our current Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos has so little regard for the students, families, schools, and educators she has been appointed to support and serve.

Dantley (2015) states that true socially just leaders “are disturbed by the academic and social inequality and enact the social change needed for marginalized people to access the necessary political, social, and economic mechanisms to reverse their circumstances” (pg. 23)

As evidenced by DeVos’s flagrant attempts to cut funding to special education, specials, and after school programs, and instead funnel money into for-profit and charter schools, she indicates a stark contrast to someone that is a champion for the rights of students and those that work with these students each day. Further, DeVos has moved to relax laws and regulations that ensure that students are treated safely and fairly in their school environment, such as protections for transgender students.

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Last week, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos appeared before the House Appropriations Committee to attempt to justify the Trump administration's 2020 budget request. During the committee hearing, members of Congress - Democrats and Republicans - had the opportunity to ask her about a number of programs and funding decisions that we found problematic to our students, educators and schools. Her answers only reinforced a truth we have known for two years: Secretary Betsy DeVos is wholly unfit to oversee this vital department and must resign before her actions wreak even more havoc than has already occurred.

We've long known that President Donald Trump was proposing dangerous and irresponsible cuts to many critical programs, from Medicaid and Social Security, to special education and medical research. However, during Tuesday's hearing with DeVos, representatives pressed her on some of her agency's most devastating cuts, including those to Special Olympics, Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. DeVos could not defend cutting or eliminating these programs, instead only claiming, "We had to make some difficult decisions."

When Trump first nominated Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education, there were many red flags that both Congress and the American public noticed.

When Trump first nominated Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education, there were many red flags that both Congress and the American public noticed. Most alarming was the fact that DeVos - who was never a public school student, teacher, principal, superintendent, or administrator - brings the least amount of public school experience of any secretary in our nation's history.
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During her confirmation hearing, DeVos' lack of background in public education became even more clear when she gave downright incoherent, confusing, and non-sequitur responses to questions on some of the most pressing issues facing American students today. She also failed to grasp the critical role that the Department of Education plays in students' lives, especially for those who may have special needs.

When she said that enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act - a federal program that is our nation's leading source of funding for students in special education programs - is "best left to the states," her nomination should have been withdrawn. She was instead confirmed by the Senate with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tie-breaking vote, the first time in history a vice president has used that power to confirm a nominee to the Cabinet.

Over the next several months, DeVos did not change her course on students with special needs or any other public education issues. Rather, her confirmation hearing stood as a prescient display of her fundamental lack of understanding and the cruelty she would deploy as the head of an agency responsible for more than 50 million students and three million teachers in public school systems, and nearly 20 million students in American colleges and universities.

Over the last two years, DeVos has repeatedly failed to serve students in America's public schools, choosing to push forward her misguided and grievous plan to rapidly expand the role of charter schools in our education system. Despite charter schools having a significant failure rate - including some in my home state of Wisconsin that I have asked DeVos to come tour with me - she has pushed for additional funding, including an additional $60 million in her latest budget request.

But DeVos's assault on public education does not end with her ultimately retracted call for the elimination of funding for Special Olympics, attacking programs for children with special needs, or propping up failing charter schools. She has also worked to revoke guidelines on affirmative action and strip protections and rights for LGBTQ students - including children who identify as transgender. Most recently, she also refused to answer if she thinks schools should be allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Her complete disdain for American students also does not end with K-12 education. DeVos has rolled-back Obama-era regulations on for-profit-colleges that protect students, including fighting to block a law that would help students and graduates who have large amounts of debt and questionable degrees. She is also failing at oversight; student loan servicers have been allowed to go rogue while the agency charged with serving American students, the Federal Student Aid office, turns the other way. Despite the crushing amount of student loan debt owed by Americans today, DeVos has tried three times to eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, taking away a program that aids our nation's teachers, firefighters and public servants.

When you take DeVos's record at the Department of Education as a whole, it's clear she does not value equal access and opportunity for all students. Rather, DeVos has sided again and again with the special interests and the deeply hurtful and discriminatory policies of the Trump administration. Indeed, her actions are really just part of a larger pattern under Trump where the government is focused on serving Americans who are white, wealthy, and privileged. DeVos has abandoned students in our cities, those that come from underprivileged backgrounds, those who identify as LGBTQ, and many, many more students who do not fit into her narrow worldview.

When you take DeVos's record at the Department of Education as a whole, it's clear she does not value equal access and opportunity for all students.

Our public education system plays a critical in expanding opportunities for the next generation of Americans and ensuring that our students - especially for those in marginalized and underserved communities - have the resources they need to succeed. However, more than two years into the Trump administration, the damage that is being done by the Department of Education will cause lasting, lifelong effects for millions of students and their families. Given her continued failure of leadership, it is time for Betsy DeVos to step down from her role and allow a committed educational professional to stand up for our nation's students, teachers, and administrators and support public education.

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Opinion | Rep. Mark Pocan: It's time for Betsy DeVos to resign

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Last week, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos appeared before the House Appropriations Committee to attempt to justify the Trump administration's 2020 budget request. During the committee hearing, members of Congress - Democrats and Republicans - had the opportunity to ask her about a number of programs and funding decisions that we found problematic to our students, educators and schools.