Recent societal and political shifts have underscored the need for higher education programs to examine and reflect on the ways in which they address equity and social justice. As teacher-educators, we feel this call with particular urgency. In this paper, we describe our past and current efforts to engage in self-reflective inquiry and enact ways…

Racial minority youth are disproportionally removed from their learning environment due to school discipline and placed in special education for emotional disturbance. These disparities continue to trouble families, educators, and policy makers, particularly within urban schools. Yet there is a paucity of research on how behavioral outcome…

Poorer outcomes for youth labeled with learning disabilities (LDs) are often attributed to the student's own deficiencies or cumulative disadvantage; but the more troubling possibility is that special education placement limits rather than expands these students' opportunities. Labeling theory partially attributes the poorer outcomes of…

Using a realist grounded theory method, this study resulted in a theoretical model and 4 propositions. As displayed in the LINK model, the labeling practice is situated in and endorsed by a social context that carries explicit theory about and educational policies regarding the labels. Taking a developmental perspective, the labeling practice…

This article reports on the results of a qualitative study that focused on the use of critical pedagogy with African American males with labels of "emotional or behavioral disorders." The teachers in this study worked with students to examine and counter the ways that their status as a special education student affected their identities.…