Written during a period of reexamination and change in the field of special education, this book was developed in order to provide a better understanding of the contexts in which children receive their formal education. The movement toward the "least restrictive environment" for the education of children with disabilities is weathering a wave of reinterpretations including mainstreaming, the regular education initiative, and inclusion. While each interpretation has its proponents and critics, limited theory and few data are available to guide these important policy decisions. Focusing specifically on classrooms -- the settings where educators can have the most immediate impact and where research is most needed -- this volume's goals are: * to establish what is known about classroom ecologies from both general and special education perspectives, * to integrate the perspectives of researchers and practitioners, and * to chart directions for further research specifically related to children with learning disabilities. The construct of classroom ecology is defined as three interrelated domains: instruction, teacher and peer interaction, and organization and management. This scheme provides the structure for the book. Taken as a whole, the content of the volume underscores the limits of current knowledge and at the same time provides directions for needed changes in both research and practice.

This groundbreaking volume brings together major figures in Disability Studies in Education (DSE) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) to explore some of today’s most important issues in education. Scholars examine the achievement/opportunity gaps from both historical and contemporary perspectives, as well as the overrepresentation of minority students in special education and the school-to-prison pipeline. Chapters also address school reform and the impact on students based on race, class, and dis/ability and the capacity of law and policy to include (and exclude). Readers will discover how some students are included (and excluded) within schools and society, why some citizens are afforded expanded (or limited) opportunities in life, and who moves up in the world and who is trapped at the “bottom of the well.” Contributors: D.L. Adams, Susan Baglieri, Stephen J. Ball, Alicia Broderick, Kathleen M. Collins, Nirmala Erevelles, Edward Fergus, Zanita E. Fenton, David Gillborn, Kris Guitiérrez, Kathleen A. King Thorius, Elizabeth Kozleski, Zeus Leonardo, Claustina Mahon-Reynolds, Elizabeth Mendoza, Christina Paguyo, Laurence Parker, Nicola Rollock, Paolo Tan, Sally Tomlinson, and Carol Vincent “With a stunning set of authors, this book provokes outrage and possibility at the rich intersection of critical race, class, and disability studies, refracting back on educational policy and practices, inequities and exclusions but marking also spaces for solidarities. This volume is a must-read for preservice, and long-term educators, as the fault lines of race, (dis)ability, and class meet in the belly of educational reform movements and educational justice struggles.” —Michelle Fine, distinguished professor of Critical Psychology and Urban Education, The Graduate Center, CUNY “Offers those who sincerely seek to better understand the complexity of the intersection of race/ethnicity, dis/ability, social class, and gender a stimulating read that sheds new light on the root of some of our long-standing societal and educational inequities.” —Wanda J. Blanchett, distinguished professor and dean, Rutgers University, Graduate School of Education

In Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies, Asao B. Inoue theorizes classroom writing assessment as a complex system that is “more than” its interconnected elements. To explain how and why antiracist work in the writing classroom is vital to literacy learning, Inoue incorporates ideas about the white racial habitus that informs dominant discourses in the academy and other contexts.

Teachers often find that their training has not provided them with sufficient knowledge and understanding about underlying social forces and processes in their classrooms. This new book addresses this gap by focusing on the social psychology of the classroom, providing the relevant social psychological knowledge and facilitating the application of that knowledge in the practice of the teacher in the classroom. Elisha Babad discusses "the state of the art" of classroom management theory, research and practice and explores a full range of teacher and classroom experiences (such as teachers' differential behavior in the classroom and its psychological price, students' roles and relationships, and distinguishing between "educating" students and "changing" students). This exceptional book will be of interest to students and scholars of educational studies and educational psychology as well as for teachers-in-training, experienced teachers, and "educators-at-large."

Rethinking Early Childhood Education is alive with the conviction that teaching young children involves values and vision. This anthology collects inspiring stories about social justice teaching with young children. Included here is outstanding writing from childcare teachers, early-grade public school teachers, scholars, and parents.Early childhood is when we develop our core dispositions -- the habits of thinking that shape how we live. This book shows how educators can nurture empathy, an ecological consciousness, curiosity, collaboration, and activism in young children. It invites readers to rethink early childhood education, reminding them that it is inseparable from social justice and ecological education.An outstanding resource for childcare providers, early-grade teachers, as well as teacher education and staff development programs.

The theme of this book is the multilingual classroom and the inter- relationships, interactions and ideologies that pertain in such classrooms. Drawing on studies from different multilingual communities in different parts of the world, the volume demonstrates the complex nature of the multilingual classroom from an ecological perspective.

This book describes and documents one school’s experiences in achieving their environmental literacy goals through the development of a place-based learning environment. Through this iniative, a longitudinal, descriptive case study began at the Bowen Island Community School to both support and advocate for ecological literacy, while helping the school realize its broad environmental learning goals. Conceptualised as an intensive case study of a learning environment (with an environmental education focus), the program was part of a larger ecological literacy project conducted in association with preservice and graduate education programs at a nearby university and research centre. Following both (empirical) learning environments and participatory (ethnographic) research methods, the project is described from a variety of perspectives: students, teachers, teacher educators, researchers and administrators. The volume describes a variety of forms of place-based education that teachers devised and implemented at the school while giving evidence of the development of a supportive and positive place-based learning environment. The programs and initiatives described in this volume provide the reader with insights for the development of place-based programming more generally . The final chapter outlines participatory methods and action research efforts used to evaluate the success of the project and recounts the development and validation of a learning environment instrument to assist with this process. The new instrument coupled with qualitative descriptions of the learning environment experienced by many at the school give unique insights into the various ways the study of learning environments (as a methodology) may be explored.