Brenda L. Townsend

The Disproportionate Discipline of African American Learners: Reducing School Suspensions and Expulsions

School disciplinary practices for students with disabilities and their peers without disabilities have long been questioned. Moreover, the school discipline of both dominant culture and ethnic minority children and youth has raised concerns. In that regard school discipline has in general become a hotbed for litigation and debate. While suspect discipline practices have been used with students across ethnic backgrounds, they are disproportionately meted out to African American students, particularly males (Harry & Anderson, 1995). This article examines exclusionary discipline practices and their impact on African American students. Culturally responsive instructional and management strategies are identified that can mitigate school suspensions and expulsions of African American children and youth.

Ethics, Power, and Privilege: Neglected Considerations in the Education of African American Learners with Special Needs.

This article addresses issues of ethics, power, and privilege within the context of educating African American learners with disabilities and gifts and talent. After offering pertinent perspectives drawn from critical theory, the authors discuss selected salient critical issues in education, as these issues relate to ethics, power, and privilege. A discussion of special education teacher educators, teachers, and related personnel as change agents follows. Subsequent to this discussion, the authors offer an analysis of three ethical themes and suggest that their use could serve to guide the transformative education of African American learners with disabilities and gifts and talents. The article ends with a preview of subsequent articles of a planned series on ethics, power, and privilege.

Diversity and School Restructuring: Creating Partnerships in a World of Difference

As public school classrooms become increasingly diverse and school reform initiatives take shape, teacher education programs must also change. In large part, a responsiveness to all children is needed, along with considerations for children and families who have historically been less successful in scbool settings. In Florida, African American children currently experience the most negative outcomes among all ethnic groups in school settings. Having collaborated with public schools, the authors identify issues pertaining to African American children and other ethnic minority and poor children that should be addressed in school and university reform initiatives. The paper describes five research projects and presents implications for pre- and in-service preparation and practice.

Creating inclusive environments for African American children and youth with gifts and talents

While African American children in general have been widely discussed in the literature, those with academic gifts and talents have not (Frasier, 1989; Patton & Baytops, 1995). In comparison with their cognitive development, even less attention is placed on these childrens socio‐cultural and psychosocial development (Ford, 1992; Shade, 1990; Patton & Baytops, 1995). Increasingly, African American learners with gifts and talents are being educated in general class settings. For these settings to be genuinely inclusive, the sociocultural and psychosocial needs of African American children and youth should be addressed. Hence, this discussion identifies several sociocultural and psychosocial needs unique to gifted African American learners. Classrooms aiming to be inclusive should respond to those needs. Thus, strategies are suggested to create inclusive environments for African American learners. The authors believe that inclusive environments for gifted African American learners result when educators beco...

Addressing the Challenges of Inclusion of Children with Disabilities

Reform of regular and special education continues to forge ahead although little is known about outcomes for children with disabilities in schools engaged in restructuring. While debates about the inclusion of these students continue, little consensus exists on various aspects of the moiement. This article offers a discussion of collaborations between a University and local school districts in its catchment area. It begins with a discussion of challenges associated with inclusive programming including research, philosophical, political, logistical, and policy issues. The authors end with a description of an inclusion program and research project that evolved from the University/school district collaborations.

Teacher Education, Leadership, and Disciplinary Practices: Exploring Ethic, Power, and Privilege in the Education of Exceptional African American Learners.

W know more today about the effective education. of African American learners than ever before in history. Yet, we continue to be challenged to increase outcomes for these learners. Ethical issues that reek with power and privilege implications have rarely been explored within the context of educating African American learners with special needs. Whether or not we address these issues overtly, in &dquo;whis-

Exploring Some Missing Dimensions: Ethics, Power, and Privilege in the Education of African American Learners With Disabilities and Gifts and Talents

This special compilation of articles in Teacher Education and Special Education follows an initial article recently published by Patton and Townsend that addressed issues of ethics, power, and privilege within the context of educating African American learners with disabilities and gifts and talents. The increased cultural, racial, and gender homogeneity of the teaching, administrative, counseling and related services, and teacher education personnel, concomitant with the increased cultural, ethnic, and class diversity of exceptional learners, has created a compelling need to explore more closely these three critical issues. We believe that this special collection of articles provides us with a systematic view of the role these three variables have played in the education of African American learners and the path educators can follow in order to incorporate properly these perspectives into their practice and research.

The Discourse on Ethics, Power, and Privilege and African American Learners: Guest Editors' Post Notes

rebirth of ethical issues in education, minimal attention is placed on the ethical issues around teaching African American children and youth. These papers engage us in some difficult, albeit refreshing, conversations and clearly portray examples of the issues while pointing to culturally responsive pedagogy and leadership. For example, each paper helps its reader grapple with and better understand notions of power and privilege. Two of the papers discuss the pervasiveness of power and its attendant privileged status that often characterizes members of dominant culture. Ewing urges us to prepare teachers to be morally reflective and to question the politics of instructional practices and arrangements. We are often advised to promote teaching strategies that demonstrate cultural competence, yet the techniques for doing so are not always clearly identified. She provides clear descriptions of culturally rele-