Special Education

Inclusive Education Faces an Uncertain Future

Accessibility matters for learners with disabilities, say BU Wheelock experts

With the creation of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 50 years ago, inclusive classrooms were established to support learning for students with disabilities. How do recent changes to federal funding impact IDEA and all the protections it stands for? 

In this Conversation with the Dean, Dean Penny Bishop is joined by BU Wheelock’s Elizabeth Bettini, an associate professor of special education, Lindsey Chapman, senior lecturer and director of the Special Education program, and Kathryn Meyer (SSW’14, Wheelock’15,’24), a postdoctoral associate at Binghamton University. Diving into what IDEA is, the importance of its history, and why it stands today, together they bring solutions to the surface on how advocacy now can help support these students.

Highlights from the Conversation

Full representation matters for disabled students

“Disabled children deserve to feel their entire selves represented in schools. They deserve to see that. They deserve to feel that. And you know, as our federal government divests from public education, divests from supporting students with disabilities, we need to counter that messaging at every opportunity. And I can’t think of a better way to do that than to live it through our praxis and our pedagogy as teachers. Because what we say and what we do with children, with families, kids remember it.”

Kathryn Meyer

Lack of support impacts teacher retention

“Teachers are feeling the lack of support that our society is communicating for their work right now. They are feeling like the broader public discourse is devaluing their work. They are feeling the debates over whether they should teach accurate history, over whether they should affirm students’ identities. They are feeling the pressure of those things in intensive ways. And I know personally folks who have left their positions because of those debates, because of the ways they felt targeted by those debates.”

Elizabeth Bettini

How to support teachers in a changing world

“The role that we are now preparing teacher candidates for is vastly different than the role that many of us held when we were classroom teachers. So it’s so important for us in universities to be . . . listening to teachers, to be talking to students, to be hearing their experiences, and what they’re seeing on the ground . . .  and how we can support one another to navigate some of these challenges that we’re all up against. Even if we don’t necessarily have power in some of the bigger issues, we can leverage partnerships and support one another. “

Lindsey Chapman

Conversations with the Dean are a series of webinars hosted by Dean Bishop that explore some of the most pressing topics in education. Learn more about Conversations with the Dean.