Kliewer: "Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome"

Let’s begin with some Food for Thought…

Imagine that it is 1967 and you are back in the second grade—the same grade as your child now.  Like your child, you are a whiz at Math, but you struggle mightily when reading a story or writing a simple sentence. 

Unlike your child, though, you would not have had the benefit of any special education services.  In 1967, if you were attending a public school, such services did not exist for children who today would be identified with a learning disability.  You would have likely struggled through a difficult education experience, struggling to advance to the next grade.

How has history of special education in our schools changed?

Chronology of Federal Legislation:

1969                Children with Specific Learning Disabilities Act mandates support services for students with learning disabilities

1975                Education for All Handicapped Children Act officially recognized “specific learning disability” (SLD) as a category eligible for special education funding and service.

                        Later renamed, the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), a specific learning disability was define as “…a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.” (Code of Federal Regulations 300.7 (c)(10))

2004                Reauthorization of IDEA which is officially known as the discrepancy model.  It measures the discrepancy between a child’s academic performance and his/her intellectual ability.  A significant discrepancy typically indicates a LD.

Overview of ADA, IDEA, and Section 504:

American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

                        Type/Purpose:  A civil rights law to prohibit discrimination solely on the basis of disability in employment, public services, and accommodations.

                        Who is Protected?  Any individual with a disability who: (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more life activities; or (2) has a record of such an impairment; or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment.

Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA)

                        Type/Purpose:  An education act to provide federal financial assistance to state and local education agencies to guarantee special education and related services to eligible children with disabilities.

                        Who is Protected?  Children ages 3-21 who are determined by a multidisciplinary team to be eligible within one or more 13 specific categories of disability and who need special education and related services.  Categories include autism, deafness, deaf-blindness, hearing impairments, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairments, other health impairments, serious emotional disturbance, specific learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairments.

                        Responsibility to Provide a Free, Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)?  Yes.  A FAPE is defined to mean special education and related services.  Special education means “specifically designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the needs of the child with a disability…”  States are required to ensure the provision of “full educational opportunity” to all children with disabilities.

                        IDEA requires the development of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) document with specific content, and a required number of specific participants at an IEP meeting.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

                        Type/Purpose:  A civil rights law to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities, public and private that receive federal financial assistance.

                        Who is Protected?  Any person who (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (2) has a record of such impairment, or (3) is regarded as having such impairment.  Major life activities include walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, learning, working, caring for oneself, and performing manual tasks.

                        Responsibility to Provide a Free, Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)?  Yes.  An “appropriate” education means an education comparable to that provided to students without disabilities.  This may be defined as regular or special education services.

                        Section 504 does require development of a plan, although this written document is not mandated.  The Individualized Education Program (IEP) of IDEA may be used for the Section 504 written plan.

So, I pose the question:

Is inclusion the only schooling that is socially just?

As part of the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the least restrictive environment is identified as one of the six principles that govern the education of students with disabilities and other special needs. By law, schools are required to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment that is appropriate to the individual student's needs.


"Least restrictive environment" means that a student who has a disability should have the opportunity to be educated with non-disabled peers, to the greatest extent appropriate. They should have access to the general education curriculum, or any other program that non-disabled peers would be able to access. The student should be provided with supplementary aids and services necessary to achieve educational goals if placed in a setting with non-disabled peers.

Who has influenced the aforementioned changes?

John Dewey


Education and democracy are intimately connected.


Dewey polarizes two extremes of education—traditional and progressive education.  The term, “progressive education” has been used to describe ideas and practices that aim to make schools more effective agencies of a democratic society.  Although there are numerous differences of style and emphasis among progressive educators, they share the conviction that democracy means active participation by all citizens in social, political and economic decisions that will affect their lives.


The education of engaged citizens involves two essential elements: (1) Respect for diversity, meaning that each individual should be recognized for his or her own abilities, interests, ideas, needs, and cultural identity, (2) the development of critical, socially engaged intelligence, which enables individuals to understand and participate effectively in the affairs of their community in a collaborative effort to achieve a common good.


Key Words:  collectivity, reciprocity, plurality

Paolo Freire

Please refer to the Freire Institue website at http://www.paulofreireinstitute.org/.

Key Words:  community, dialogue, building social capital, conscientization


Equipped with the historical context of special education and backed by theory, how are you going to live out Kliewer's argument of inclusion in schooling and in our greater society?

Collier and Rodriguez (Part 1)

According to Collier, “On first hearing about bilingual education, everyone immediately wants to know the method of teaching…A bilingual teacher learns how to become a teacher first of all…Differences, however, are created by the two major variables of language and culture.  How the two languages are used in the classroom is one aspect of methodology…To oversimplify, there are three major models in actual practice in the United States today: transitional, maintenance, two-way enrichment.  As in all education, politics and ideology are expressed by the selection of a given model” (228).

Is anyone else bothered by Collier’s assertion?  Is it true that “as in all education, politics and ideology are expressed by the selection of a given model?  Thus, through the examination of each methodology, I plan to ‘unpack’ the contention by reviewing the system for categorizing various theoretical models of bicultural education.  Noting, a paradigm is presented for examining the congruence between the theoretical model, teachers' beliefs and actual classroom practices to determine the effectiveness of a bicultural language program. Recent political and policy initiatives have brought about dramatic shifts in policies for educating language minority children and bilingual education programs in the United States.  Please view the video on the Bilingual Education Act.

These policy shifts stem from struggles over social dominance among cultural and ethnic groups within the larger society. The ideology of cultural and linguistic assimilation and the relative power and status of speakers of different world languages among mainstream, immigrant and minority populations have spawned conflicting social and political agendas that play themselves out in the public schools. So, maybe Collier was not that far off?

Let’s examine each model ...

Information is provided from http://home.grics.net/~jhv/201_Website_S_08/BilingualEducation.html.

Transitional bilingual education (TBE):

•         The goal is to prepare students to enter mainstream English classrooms (a transition usually completed within two or three years) by providing a portion of instruction in children's native language to help them keep up in school subjects, while they study English in programs designed for second-language learners.

•         The bulk of federal Title VII grants must support this approach, requiring only that some  amount of native language and culture be used.

•         TBE refers to a range of approaches from stressing native-language development to nothing more than the translation services of bilingual aides.

•         Studies have shown that English is the medium of instruction from 72 to 92 percent of the time in TBE programs.

•         TBE is referred to as a compensatory model meaning it is compensating for students' needs or as subtractive bilingualism attempting to replace a child's native tongue with English as quickly as possible.

•         TBE is associated with low level of proficiency in both languages and underachievement in school.

Maintenance or developmental bilingual education:

•         The goal is to preserve and enhance students' skills in the mother tongue while they acquire a second language.

•         Maintenance bilingual education is considered an enrichment model, adding to students' linguistic abilities or additive bilingualism, continuing the development in both languages.

To be continued...

Promising Practices

            My experience at Rhode Island College’s Promising Practices was so rewarding! 

During the Morning Session, I attended a workshop on social justice that included two presentations.  The first presentation was facilitated by Marcus McWilliams, a RIC graduate who teaches for English for Action.  As explained by McWilliams, English for Action is an organization that focuses on the education of minority students who struggle in traditionalized schools.  The program places a large emphasis on the perpetuation of social equity and justice through the examination of the Civil Rights.  During the presentation, McWilliams highlighted the responsibility of teachers to differentiate between the traditional narrative and the historical narrative; thus, focusing on the Truths (stressing the capital “T”) of racism, prejudice, and the pursuit of collective righteousness.  In order to reach the audience of pre-service and practicing educators, McWilliams challenged the attendees with an informal, multiple-choice assessment on civil rights with the hope of dispelling common misconceptions of our history.  The following two questions resonated with me; thus, disputing my preconceived notions of the established historical accounts that is propagated in our schools’ textbooks.  Prior to scrolling down, I ask that you reflect upon and formulate a response to the prompts.  I provide my initial response and McWilliams’s elucidation.

1. Who was Rosa Parks?

My initial response:  Rosa Parks was an African-American woman who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on the city bus.

McWilliams’s elaboration:  The arrest of Rosa Parks was not an isolated incident, but a strategic protest to racial segregation.  After the arrest of Parks, the black people of Montgomery and sympathizers of other races organized and promoted a boycott of the city bus line that lasted 381 days.

2.  Where was the KKK the most influential during the Civil Rights Movement?

My initial response:  Unsure of the correct answer, I assumed that the KKK was most active in the Southern states such as Mississippi, Alabama, or Georgia.

McWilliams’s answer:  Oregon.  Baffled by this assertion, I took to the Internet.  Please visit the following URL for additional information: http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/entry/view/ku_klux_klan/.

            Following McWilliams’s lecture, a second workshop continued the discussion of social justice.  Entitled Slammin’ for Social Justice:  Teachers and Students Talk Back, the seminar was lead by secondary teachers from Pilgrim High School, Bishop Connolly High School (my alma mater), and Resiliency Preparatory School, and focused on the art of slam poetry as a form of self-expression.  The message of the second workshop lends a voice to McWilliams’s message—it was a wonderfully active tie-in!  Each teacher read a poem that he or she composed in response to questions on social justice.  One poem was comedic; one poem was dismal; one poem was uplifting.  Nevertheless, I was most struck by a poem read by a junior at the Resiliency Preparatory School in Fall River, an alternative high school for students who are labeled as delinquents.  Backed with a courage and maturity that was beyond his years, the student eloquently defined the term of resiliency.  He proffered the message that he was judged, tried, and convicted by his peers, and subsequently felt like an outcast.  His ruminations proved to be so touching…I become teary!  It was his English teacher, Diane Long, who ‘saved’ this student and gave him a voice—a creative voice that is assertive and filled with self-conviction!  It was a wonderful moment to witness!

            So inspired by the message of social consciousness provided during the workshops of Promising Practices, I leave you with two writing prompts that may begin a dialogue with your students:  “I once was…, now I am…” or “They say…, I say…”  Usurp the traditional narrative and allow your students to explore.

A Must See!

On Saturday evening, I went to the play, Clybourne Park, at Trinity.  It was AMAZING!  It addresses racism, both implicit and explicit (a nice tie in to SED 552!).  It is running until November 20.  The play is a must see!