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KU experts write guide to transforming schools based on research in education, disability
LAWRENCE — When University of Kansas researchers were invited to write a book for a W.W. Norton & Company series focused on inclusive education for students with disabilities, they worked with the editors of the series to rethink the concept of “inclusion” itself. “Build Equity. Join Justice: A Paradigm for School Belonging,” by Amy McCart, Wade Kelly and Wayne Sailor of SWIFT Education Center, a part of the KU Life Span Institute, is now available.
KU announces new 2023-2024 Self Memorial Scholars
LAWRENCE — Nineteen students have been selected to receive the University of Kansas Madison and Lila Self Memorial Scholarship for the 2023-2024 academic year. The merit-based scholarships provide each recipient with a $10,000 scholarship award, $1,000 professional development award, leadership and career development training and an opportunity to take part in an interdisciplinary cohort of graduate students. Recipients include Kansans from Leavenworth, Lindsborg, Olathe, Overland Park, Paola, Pittsburg, Roeland Park, Topeka and Wichita.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Christina Knott, Life Span Institute, [email protected], @kulifespan
KU experts write guide to transforming schools based on research in education, disability
LAWRENCE — When University of Kansas researchers were invited to write a book for a W.W. Norton & Company series focused on inclusive education for students with disabilities, they worked with the editors of the series to rethink the concept of “inclusion” itself.
For decades, educational leaders have worked to make education more inclusive, yet these efforts have ultimately not produced sufficiently meaningful change for many students who have historically been excluded from the general education classroom, the researchers said. These conclusions led Amy McCart, Wade Kelly and Wayne Sailor of SWIFT Education Center, a part of the KU Life Span Institute, to frame their contribution to the series as “Build Equity. Join Justice: A Paradigm for School Belonging,” published recently by Norton.
Rather than focusing solely on disability, the book explores ways that race, socioeconomic status and other social hierarchies intersect, resulting in systems that regularly exclude certain students and fail to provide a sense of true belonging. By broadening the focus to include all the systems that place certain students on the margins of their schools, the authors hope to inspire a more ambitious goal for education than simply including students in a dominant culture that was not designed for them. The book offers 10 principles, or points, designed to promote equity and justice in education. These points are primarily inspired by the writings, research and lived experiences of centuries of Black, brown, Indigenous and queer people of all genders.
“The book hopes to inspire a deeper thinking and a fundamental redesign in the way we as educators understand and support students and the structure of our schools,” said Amy McCart, SWIFT co-director, noting that it also reflects how SWIFT Education Center has undergone its own transformation.
“At SWIFT, we knew if we wanted to lead schools across the nation in their efforts to support students who have been pushed to the margins, we had to first deepen our own understanding of the role of race and disability in education. At SWIFT, we have committed ourselves to understanding the intersectional nature of student lives and have designed a way for schools to work toward building spaces that create student wholeness,” McCart said.
The center’s work, which is foundational for the book, supports schools in implementing a practice referred to as “Equity-based Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS),” a framework for organizing student support which combines data sources with knowledge of context, science, and systems in education to benefit all students, not just those with disabilities. It is a mechanism through which schools determine how they will support each of their students.
The book outlines strategies for ensuring that implementation of Equity-based MTSS in schools is done with equity as the driving force and the measure of success. This is, in part, a response to the prevalence of educational systems that routinely segregate by placing into separate classrooms or schools those students who learn or behave differently from the dominant culture.
“We as educators must challenge ourselves to personally understand the harm that is occurring to Black and Brown children across our nation and commit to changing our system of education, including special education, to do better. We believe we have created a resource to help guide that work,” McCart said.
In the book, the authors argue that a paradigm shift is needed to address the inequities embedded in many aspects of the educational system. The book’s 10 Point Paradigm presents different facets of equity that need to be considered to move toward an ecosystem in education that prioritizes the needs of students who have historically been excluded.
“Although we developed the 10 Point Paradigm in the context of education and wrote this book with a mind toward those that educate and advocate for students, it is at its essence an invitation to all people to use education as the lens through which we can dream a new vision of life in this country and society as a whole,” said author Wade Kelly, assistant director, content creation, at SWIFT. “The principles nested within the 10 Point Paradigm are meant to recalibrate our moral compass in such a way that it points toward liberation, validation and solidarity rather than marginalization and the tired, senselessly punitive strategies and practices of the past.”
The book is intended to provide educators and administrators at all levels several entry points to redesign schools into “equity-advancing, justice-centered institutions,” ones that address the learning needs and well-being of students while joining the larger struggle toward justice for many of those who are marginalized.
“Build Equity. Join Justice: A Paradigm for School Belonging,” part of the Norton Series on Inclusive Education for Students with Disabilities, is edited by KU Life Span Institute researchers Michael Wehmeyer, chair of the KU Department of Special Education and director of the Beach Center on Disabilities, and Jennifer Kurth, associate professor of special education.
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Contact: Daniel Rivera, Self Graduate Fellowship, 785-864-7249, [email protected], @Selfgraduate
KU announces new 2023-2024 Self Memorial Scholars
LAWRENCE – Nineteen students have been selected to receive the University of Kansas Madison and Lila Self Memorial Scholarship for the 2023-2024 academic year.
The Self Memorial Scholarship is a merit-based scholarship that is awarded to outstanding seniors from the University of Kansas who will be transitioning into their first year of a master’s or doctoral degree program at KU in the fall semester. Students who were selected demonstrated achievement in leadership and scholarship, capable of envisioning and attaining goals that require energy and tenacity. The Self Memorial Scholarship provides each recipient with a $10,000 scholarship award, $1,000 professional development award, leadership and career development training and an opportunity to be a part of an interdisciplinary cohort of graduate students. The leadership and career development training, titled the Scholar Development Program, complements the specialized education and training provided by the graduate programs.
The new Self Memorial Scholars for 2023-2024:
1. Gracelynn Bradbury, Topeka: bachelor’s degree in speech-language-hearing with a minor in Spanish; incoming master’s student in speech-language pathology
2. Mackenzie Bravence, Overland Park: bachelor’s degree in speech-language-hearing; incoming master’s student in speech-language pathology
3. Carolina Medina Castellanos, Tegucigalpa, Honduras: bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering with a minor in French; incoming master’s student in computer engineering
4. Claire Cox, Paola: bachelor’s degree in history; incoming master’s student in history
5. Alaura Custard, Overland Park: bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and physics; incoming master’s student in geology
6. Martel Ellis, Romulus, Michigan: bachelor’s degree in ecology & evolutionary biology; incoming doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology
7. Parker Ford, Edmond, Oklahoma: bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in creative writing; incoming master’s student in city and county management
8. Brody Gatza, Olathe: bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering; incoming doctoral student in aerospace engineering
9. Hope Hanlen, Leavenworth: bachelor’s degree in speech-language-hearing; incoming master’s student in speech-language pathology
10. Natalie Hanrahan, St. Louis: bachelor’s degree in speech-language-hearing; incoming master’s student in speech-language pathology
11. Braeden Huslig, Wichita: bachelor’s degree in biochemistry; incoming doctoral student in medicinal chemistry
12. Hannah Jones, Sioux Falls, South Dakota: bachelor’s degree in social work; incoming master’s student in social work
13. Anna Kostecki, St. Louis: bachelor’s degree in social work; incoming master’s student in social work
14. Zach Misic, Overland Park: bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary computing; incoming doctoral student in computer science
15. Joseph Nordling, Roeland Park: bachelor’s degree in computer science; incoming master’s student in computer science
16. Vivian Orta, Bartlesville, Oklahoma: bachelor’s degrees in psychology; human sexuality; and women, gender & sexuality studies; incoming master’s student in higher education administration
17. Andrew Riachi, Pittsburg: bachelor’s degree in computer engineering; incoming master’s student in computer science
18. Ava Taylor, Overland Park: bachelor’s degree in speech-language-hearing; incoming master’s student in speech-language pathology
19. Rachel Weis, Lindsborg: bachelor’s degrees in business analytics and information systems with a minor in supply chain management; incoming master’s student in business analytics.
Madison “Al” and Lila Self were deeply motivated by the idea that developing and investing in young leaders was vital for a successful future. The Selfs began their legacy of supporting graduate students in 1989 with the establishment of the Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship. Since 1991, the Self Graduate Fellowship has supported over 200 doctoral students. The Self Memorial Scholarship was launched and permanently endowed in 2014. The first Scholars were awarded in 2018. Since 2018, the Self Memorial Scholarship has supported 82 graduate students. The overall mission of Self Graduate Programs is to provide funding and development opportunities for exceptional graduate students who demonstrate the promise to make significant contributions to their field of study and society as a whole.
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