Politics and power in territorial planning: insights from two 'Ecological-Economic Zoning' multi-stakeholder processes in the Brazilian Amazon

The use of multi-stakeholder forums (MSFs) in territorial planning has gained global popularity. These MSFs aim to bring diverse actors together to collaboratively and equitably develop a plan that assigns optimal land uses to a territory. However, as promoting particular land uses and benefits for some actors often comes at a cost to others, territorial planning MSFs may reproduce or even exacerbate, rather than mitigate, conflicts and asymmetries. We comparatively analyze collaboration, power relations and sustainability goals in the Ecological-Economic Zoning commissions of Acre and Mato Grosso, Brazil, which fall under the same federal mandate but operate in contrasting contexts. We show how territorial planning MSFs have better chances of meeting their goals when they are understood as political processes: in this case, when they emerge from and are nourished by powerful local social-environmental movements and alliances, rather than being technocratic initiatives opposed by powerful local production-business alliances.

A Mixed-Methods Analysis of State-Level Population Data for Students With Visual Impairment and Blindness

The prevalence of students with visual impairments varies across the United States, yet limited analysis exists on how many students receive special education services. The following study collected population data on students with visual impairments for the 2017–2018 school year and ran focus groups with state-level administrators to understand current and future options to collect population data. Twenty-three of 50 states responding to the survey reported total population data. On average, states supported 3.6 times the number of students with visual impairments reported in their federal Child Count data reports. State administrators agreed a federal mandate requiring states to collect total population data on students with visual impairments is needed. The ramifications of preparing for and supporting an unknown population of students with disabilities was discussed. A federal mandate for total population data collection is unlikely in the near future. Therefore, practical implications, including key factors and logistics, that state administrators should consider are outlined.

Being in the Right Place at the Right Time: Educational Placement of Students With Intellectual Disability by State and Year

Despite the longstanding federal mandate to place students with disabilities in general education classrooms to the maximum extent appropriate, most students with intellectual disability continue to spend most of their time in separate classrooms and schools. In this study, we describe longitudinal educational placement patterns in six states that represent the wide span of educational placement (i.e., Vermont, Kentucky, Kansas, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Montana). Surprisingly, some states are trending toward more restrictive placements, and the gap between the most and least inclusive states is continuing to widen over time. We offer constructive suggestions for appropriately applying the principle of least restrictive environment so that placement decisions are driven by student needs and not where students live.

States Decrease Their Required Secondary Transition Planning Age: Federal Policy Must Change

Individuals With Disabilities Education Act 2004 mandates transition planning for students with disabilities begin by the age of 16 years. Currently, no study exists describing when states and territories require transition planning to begin; we conducted a methodical review to determine this age. We found over half (52%) the U.S. states and territories (29 of 56) require transition planning begin prior to the federal age 16 mandate. To argue the age 16 federal mandate is too old and needs to be lowered to at least age 14, we review special education law, provide a summary of influential position statements, cite relevant data-based studies, and provide an overview of research-based transition models.

Increasing Inclusive Education Through a Learning Center Model: A California Approach

Learning center models offer students with disabilities learning experiences in general education classrooms, while retaining support and services from special education personnel. The learning center approach examines existing educational perspectives, practices and structures, surrounding access to general education for students with disabilities. This study used a document analysis, a qualitative data method, to examine how two California school districts developed a learning center model to transform special education programming from segregated special education classrooms and practices to placement and access to general education. The findings inform educational programming for students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment, to comply with the American federal mandate. Findings suggest that the deep structure of educational practices complicated the ease of a change in practices for both general and special educators. However, the community approach of the learning center model, where all teachers assume the educational responsibilities for all students, forced these educators to be flexible, reexamine structures and practices, and challenge the ethos of traditional schooling.

[This Closed Captioning is brought to you by Compulsive Heterosexuality/Able-bodiedness]

This paper examines the way that language attempts to categorize and control bodies through the space of closed captioning. The paper examines three different incidents of closed captioned in television sex scenes to argue that queering and cripping provide a framework to examine how the rhetorical choices in closed captioning reflect larger anxieties over bodies engaged in pleasure in a space coded as "disabled." In considering closed captioning as a space coded as "disabled" what is made caption-visible (and what is not) can enforce a dual binary of heterosexuality/abe-bodiedness against queer/disabled. This dual binary is examined in three different case studies, Scandal, Queer as Folk, and Orange is the New Black; all 3 examples provide an overview of how closed captioning has performed ideological work which has largely gone unnoticed. This paper intervenes into the scholarly work which positions closed captioning as just a federal mandate or technological advancement. Instead, we should be looking at closed captioning as a series of rhetorical choices. By examining captioning, we can see the limits of defining, categorizing, and containing bodies and sex through language and disrupt ideas of normalcy which are being enacted in the space of closed captioning.

Music education for social change in the United States: towards artistic citizenship through Little Kids Rock

Public education in the United States is often woefully under-funded, especially in the arts, despite a federal mandate to provide music education for all. Where music programs exist in US schools, they tend to focus on teacher-directed large ensembles that afford students little agency or creative opportunity, playing music that alienates a majority of young people. Faced with the volume of evidence pointing to the benefits of including music in a well-rounded education, philanthropy-funded nonprofit companies such as Little Kids Rock step in to fill the vacuum in state provision. This paper is a descriptive, intrinsic case study that describes how Little Kids Rock provides culturally relevant music making experiences for young people in schools, through a learning approach called music as a second language and alternative music classes termed modern band. Little Kids Rock builds a nationwide community of innovative music pedagogues by training teachers, donating musical instruments and sharing original curricular resources. This paper includes examples of two modern band teachers – one working in a rock band context, and the other a hip hop facilitator. The work of these and other teachers is ever more urgent in an era in which the U.S. perpetuates an intense neoliberal capitalism that oppresses and marginalizes vast numbers of its own people. Little Kids Rock aims to foster artistic citizenship wherein music makers recognize social and emancipatory responsibilities with the aim of transforming lives for the better.

Gifted Education in the Australian Context

The context in which gifted education operates in Australia provides for differing levels of identification and services. Lacking a federal mandate or funding, states and territories are responsible for addressing the needs of gifted students. Australia contributes to the gifted education research literature, focusing on acceleration, gifted girls, and teacher attitudes. The impacts of a relatively new national curriculum and assessment program have yet to be assessed in terms of their impact on gifted children. This article includes an overview of the policies, models, and barriers facing gifted education in Australia.

Monitoring the compliance of the academic enterprise with the Fair Labor Standards Act

Background: On December 1, 2016, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was due to be updated by the U.S. Department of Labor. Key changes included an increase in the salary threshold for exemption from overtime for working more than 40 hours per week, and indexing the salary level so that it is updated automatically every 3 years. This was predicted to have a profound effect on academe as postdoctoral researchers were mostly paid at a salary below the new threshold. On November 22, 2016, an injunction was granted nationwide, delaying implementation of the updates, which were finally struck down entirely on August 31, 2017. Here we review the key changes to the FLSA, how they came about, and how the postdoctoral population was affected. Methods: We describe recent data collection efforts to uncover what institutions with postdocs were doing to comply with the FLSA. Results: Our data showed that 57% of institutions checked (containing 41% of the estimated postdoctoral workforce in science, engineering and health) had not decided or had no public decision available one month prior to implementation, and only 35.5% of institutions were planning to raise salaries to the new minimum. After the injunction, a number of institutions and the NIH continued with their plans to raise salaries. Overall, despite the removal of a federal mandate, approximately 60% of postdocs are at institutions whose policy is to raise salaries. Conclusions: Our data show uncertainty in postdoctoral salaries in the U.S. prior to implementation of the FLSA ruling. In addition, while some institutions did suspend plans to raise postdoctoral salaries after the injunction, many continued with the raise. The implementation of postdoctoral salary raises may be inconsistent, however, as the legal minimum is still $23,660.