School districts and campuses throughout the nation are working around the clock to avoid an unacceptable accountability rating under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. In Texas the label has recently changed to "Improvement Required." An "Improvement Required" label forces districts and campuses into the Texas…

This article explores trends in research since the 1975 passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), notes gaps in the literature, and offers suggestions for future directions music education researchers could take in exploring the needs and experiences of music teachers…

With a high rate of additional learning needs in children with permanent hearing loss, this study sought to understand their educational and support needs. School information on 62 children with varying degrees of hearing loss attending an urban public school during a 5-year period was analysed to understand types and amounts of services over…

This paper asks whether education is a viable route to better livelihoods and social inclusion for children living in poor urban areas in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It uses qualitative interviews with 36 students aged 11-16, living in slum and middle-class areas, and also draws on data from a larger, mixed-methods study to provide context. Many children…

This investigation employs Disability Critical Race Studies as a theoretical framework to determine the interdependence of racism and ableism in school settings. African American male students with learning disabilities are queried about their interpretations of special education placement and labeling while attempting to secure educational…

Given educators' call to equalize educational opportunities, research is needed to illuminate promises and tensions in schools that resist negative labeling and sorting of nondominant youth. This article examines an urban high school that challenges traditional expectations for low-income, Latina/o students by engaging in "relabeling," a…

Young people in Irish schools are required to choose whether to sit secondary exam subjects at higher or ordinary level. This paper draws on a mixed methods longitudinal study of students in 12 case-study schools to trace the factors influencing take-up of higher level subjects within lower secondary education. School organisation and process are…

Using Judith Butler's theory of performative subjection, this paper examines the injurious attitudes of three staff members at an outer-metropolitan high school who are heavily involved in the enactment and monitoring of Senior Education and Training (SET) Plan interviews for the Queensland Certificate of Education. It is argued that teachers at…

This manuscript draws from a 2-year multiple-case ethnography on the educational experiences of Mexican immigrant families with California middle schools. The article explores the influence of the political landscape and raciolinguistic ideologies surrounding the nature and implementation of a middle school dual language bilingual program, and it…

The purpose of this project was to explore strategies of how to help special needs children adapt according to their own abilities. Contributing factors, such as discrimination practices, served as the foundational components that led to the formation of special education services. At one time, "special needs children," also referred to…

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that may influence school administrators' disciplinary decisions involving students with disabilities. Confirmatory factor analysis suggests that the investigator-developed measures adequately represent the hypothesized latent factors per the pattern of observed responses. The hypothesized…

The focus on the achievement gap has overshadowed ways in which school systems constrain student achievement through trends of racial disproportionality in areas such as school discipline, special education assignment, and juvenile justice. Using Critical Race Theory, we reframe these racial disparities as issues of institutionalized racism.…

The purpose of this study was to examine research studies conducted at the K-6 grades of public school in the U.S. covering from 1997-2008 with regard to how diverse students, in particular Latino, White, African American and Asian are identified, placed, and represented in special education programs at the national, state and school district…

Across the United States young women with disabilities are experiencing economic and educational disadvantages. Although post-school outcomes have shown improvement, young women continue to experience high unemployment rates, low wages, and high rates of poverty. In this study, I explore the experiences of four teenage girls who have been labeled…

Decision-making regarding intensive instructional support for children with special needs should build from children's instructional needs, and not from diagnostic labelling and criteria for funding eligibility. Cognitive referencing, the use of results on intelligence and language quotients to decide children's academic options and funding…