Equity Alliance Blog

Spanning several generations, leadership preparation programs in special education have produced the faculty that generate research knowledge and prepare special education teachers. Unfortunately, the challenges facing these programs have reached crisis proportions as reflected in stagnant federal funding and a reduction in the number of...

Disability touches the lives of all human beings in one way or another during their lifetime. It is not surprising, therefore, that most societies deploy protections and supports for people with disabilities. But just as disability constitutes an object of protection, it is necessary to remember that disability can also be used as a tool of...

Schools should be a welcoming, safe place for all students – where students can be themselves, learn, and thrive. However, harsh discipline policies and punitive dress codes are disproportionately pushing students of color out of public schools. Biased school dress codes too often target students of color by unreasonably prohibiting hairstyles...

All humans deserve to thrive—socially, emotionally, cognitively, physically, economically, and spiritually. Equity in thriving has been contested and denied in the U.S. since the first Europeans arrived. Not only has opportunity been limited, but so has the conceptualization of what...

When asked, “How does it feel to be you in school?” a Black 16-year-old male student answered, “I feel imprisoned in school. I wish I didn’t have to stand in line to be searched to get into school and then be held to a strict code as to what I have to do during the day. I wish the teachers would help us in our individual learning styles rather...

Some policymakers in the United States are considering whether the right to vote should be extended to 16 and 17 year olds.

The education of unaccompanied minors calls for transformative educators and policies. A question we need to continuously ask is whether we want to train minors so they are apprenticed into servitude,[1] or do...

As an associate director of a disability office in higher education, I have had the pleasure of meeting various students with disabilities or labeled with dis/abilities...

English learners (ELs) are currently about five million students in the U.S. If we want these students to have access to equitable math instruction, we need to first move past deficit views of those learners and contradict common sense notions of what they need. Research suggests that EL instruction that supports student...

School boards are the epitome of local U.S. politics. With more than 90,000 members governing nearly 13,000 school districts, school boards represent millions of constituents. In many ways, we entrust these policymakers with our children’s education. Yet, the question remains: Should we trust that school board members have the best interest of...

Allysa sat across from me, nervously twisting her curled hair as she introduced herself.  It was clear she had put time into her appearance for this admission interview for the elementary teacher education program at my institution.  As a faculty member, I regularly interview nice, young, predominately White women who dream of becoming teachers...

I distinctly remember coming across Joaquin’s Dilemma, by Pedro Noguera, when I was a special education teacher in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. I was struck by the title of his analysis of the racialization of school-related behaviors. It was the first time I...

In the U.S., discipline policies—in both creation and enforcement—result in re-segregated learning environments [1], the inequitable penalization of marginalized students [2], and limited access to learning [3] for historically marginalized students. Research demonstrates harsh discipline has significant financial costs on our economy [4] and...

 Outside of home, schools are typically the place children spend most of their time. School should be a place full of lively learning and discovery! But what if it’s not? Imagine, the following scenario.

While attending a family reunion this summer, I was approached by a bright, beautiful, young cousin who was interested...

The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018 may be viewed as a watershed moment in our history, similar to Columbine in April 1999. Following both tragedies, the nation was at odds about how to prevent such shootings from happening again in the future. How do we solve America’s gun problem in schools? Despite a surge...

 I was asked to write this blog post on the “new racism” of color-blind curricula in higher education. “New racism,” means the way that overt expressions of racial animus have frequently been driven underground even though the underlying structure of White supremacy remains (Cabrera, 2019).  I agreed to write this post, but I also slightly...

The basis for gifted and talented programs is the somewhat innocuous notion that a subset of children are capable of high levels of performance and may benefit from educational services outside a traditional classroom setting. A critical first step in meeting the educational needs of such children is screening, followed by the formal...