Overidentification of English Language Learners for Special Education

Alarming statistics presented by the United States Department of Education reveal a disproportionate number of students of minority language (English language learners) qualify for special education. As far back as 2007, the DOE recognized there was a concerted effort needed to reduce racial and ethnic disproportionality in racial and ethnic identification, placement, and disciplinary actions for minority students' representation in special education. This chapter will examine and address solutions to prevent the over identification of English language learners in special education specifically in the area of identification. As a further objective, the ramifications of this over representation will be examined, and the authors hypothesize about why the over representation occurs. Confusion over the Unz Initiative (1998, Proposition 227) may have inadvertently led to the over identification. A case study, leading to case law, concludes the chapter.

STEM Education for Girls

Makerspaces are common learning spaces providing hands-on opportunities for students to make, create, plan, and play. This chapter describes an equity-oriented (girls) makeathon day. Teacher and teacher candidate participants (n=15) acted as mentors for 22 girls creating wearable technologies, augmenting reality using old t-shirts, and creating a mobile app related to an issue that teen girls face today. The results of this case study focus on results from an adapted questionnaire (teacher efficacy and attitudes toward STEM [T-STEM]) and semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data of this case study research was analyzed through open-coding and triangulated with quantitative data and Mann-Whitney U tests. Participants identified the importance of technologies for their growth as educators and to create safe and supportive environments for girls. Participants highlighted the importance of professional development and support and how to create effective makerspaces. Continued research and opportunities need to be created to encourage diverse educational makeathon events.

Inclusive Education

The challenges facing full inclusion are many: time, scheduling, role clarity, self-efficacy, collaboration, parity, classroom management, new and different skill sets, training, and support. If we plan for, train, and schedule special and general education teachers as separate entities, they will be. Instead, all educators and leaders must be viewed, and treated, as part of a single working system. This chapter outlines concrete and actionable strategies for school leaders and general and special educators to support effective inclusion and make it a reality for all students. Hard work? Yes! Worth it? Absolutely!

Overcoming Educational Challenges Through Social and Emotional Learning

The purpose of the chapter is to examine the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL) when supporting K-12 students in academic learning for success. Components of SEL such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making will be covered. A brief look at emotional intelligence is incorporated in the contents as well. The author provides evidence-based reasons why teaching SEL is beneficial for K-12 student success in numerous aspects of their educational career. Not only K-12 students be the focus of implementing SEL, but the teacher's role in implementing SEL in the classroom is explored. Various skills taught in SEL is discussed in detail as well as the impact of SEL at various grade levels.

Proactive Support for Pre-Service Candidates Going Into the K-12 Teaching Profession

An overarching issue of preparing teachers for the K-12 teaching professions rests with a lack of specific, well planned, and effective support for preservice teachers going into the profession. The main focus of this chapter will be to focus on what can be done to strengthen teacher preparation programs for preservice teachers, especially in California, where student population is burgeoning.

Understanding the Attrition Rates of Diverse Teacher Candidates

The National Center for Education Statistics has indicated that the vast majority of New York State teaching positions remain disproportionately reflective of and populated by members of the dominant culture even while student populations grow increasingly diverse. New York has experienced a dramatic increase in the number of racially and ethnically diverse students, including many immigrant groups, in nearly all regions of the state. Consistently, teacher education research has underscored the importance of having multilingual, multiethnic, and multiracial teacher candidates successfully enter the teaching profession. Yet it appears that too few teacher preparation programs have altered preparation practices to accommodate this need. While acknowledging the need for a more diverse teaching force, this chapter examines 5 years of teacher candidates' educational outcomes in an urban community college. The empirical data underscore a complicated and often exclusionary teacher preparation pathway. This pathway, inadvertently, often precludes racially and ethnically diverse teacher candidates.

How to Overcome the Challenge of Teaching Students With Learning Disabilities to Use Technology

Teaching students how to use the technology is the first step to integrating the technology into instructional practice. This chapter shows how to teach students with a learning disability (LD) to use a web-based publishing tool using a simple strategy. The strategy is TAP(S)3. The strategy was developed on the principles of the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) model and the strategic instruction model (SIM). SRSD and SIM principles are evidence-based and focus on helping the struggling student succeed academically. SRSD and SIM focus intensively on writing instruction. The web-based publishing tool used as an example in this chapter is Book-Builder. Book-Builder was developed by CAST on the principles of universal design for learning (UDL). CAST is a nonprofit education research organization. Specific information about the organization can be found at http://www.cast.org/.

Using Postmodernism to Effectively Teach in Diverse Settings

The challenges brought to classrooms are often exacerbated by a mismatch between teachers' cultural backgrounds and those of their students. This incongruity can be overcome through the use of culturally responsive teaching practices and the integration of culturally relevant curriculum. This chapter suggest the adoption of a postmodern mindset can also aid teachers in meeting the needs of all their students, particularly those with differing life experiences from their own. The author uses a postmodern framework for education that is adopted from Finland and aligns this with the tenets of culturally responsive teaching and also suggests the framework's alignment to culturally relevant curriculum.

Action Research and Teacher Portfolio as Two Strong Teacher-Led Professional Development Designs

This chapter aims to describe two effective teacher-led professional development designs: action research and teacher portfolio. Research has shown that many professional development models and practices are ineffective while meeting teachers' professional needs and highlight the critical role of teachers during their professional development activities. Action research and teacher portfolio offers teachers the opportunity to conduct needs assessment, revisit and reflect on their practices, and evaluate their performances. This reflective, authentic, and evidence-based assessment procedure enables teachers search for resources that perfectly meets their professional needs. This chapter examines features of action research and teacher portfolio implementations as two meaningful teacher-led professional development models and offer rich descriptions of these models to inform practitioners and stakeholders.

Immigrant and Refugee Children in the United States

Since 2014 America has seen increasingly large numbers of poor, immigrant refugee children, often unaccompanied, arrive in the United States. By 2016, 26% of the 70 million children in the U.S. under 18 were immigrant children. States with high numbers of immigrants with children, many illegal and undocumented and often living in the care of non-family members, attend schools in the United States. In 1982, the Supreme Court in Plyler v. Doe recognized the right of all students, regardless of immigration status, to have a free public education affirming a state may not deny access to a basic public education to any child residing in the state whether present in the United States legally or otherwise. Educators face issues with under-resourced schools gaining increasing numbers of immigrant children of undocumented immigrants while there is a need to enhance opportunities for all students to learn.