Wrestling with the Paradoxes of Equity: A Cultural-Historical Reframing of Technical Assistance Interventions
Equity assistance centers (EACs) have played key roles in fulfilling the legacy of the Civil Rights Act by providing technical assistance (TA) to districts and schools in addressing discriminatory behaviors on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, and religion for over 50 years. In 2002, the National Center for Culturally Responsive Education Systems (NCCRESt) was federally funded as an EAC offering a new model of TA. In a mere seven years, the NCCRESt played a pivotal role in shifting the discourse and efforts to address disproportionality. In this article, we provide an historical contextualization of policies and research that converged to shape the NCCRESt’s TA, reframing and producing new forms of critical evidence on the racialization of disability and the required responses to tackle this long-standing equity problem. We close with reflections on the promises and possibilities of building on the NCCRESt’s disproportionality legacy.Abstract
Contributor Notes
Author Bio
Taucia González, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of special education at the University of Arizona. Her research addresses issues of equity and inclusion for dual language learners with and without learning disabilities (LD). She is currently examining how youth participatory action research can be used as a social design experiment to support learning and advance equity for dual language learners with and without LD. The second strand of her research focuses on preparing teachers to work at the intersection of language and ability differences. Dr. González’s currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses that prepare future practitioners and researchers to create more inclusive educational systems across intersecting markers of difference.
Author Bio
Alfredo J. Artiles is the Ryan C. Harris Professor of Special Education and Dean of the Graduate College at Arizona State University (ASU). Dr. Artiles received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Göteborgs (Sweden) and was Honorary Professor at the University of Birmingham (UK). His scholarship examines the paradoxes of educational equity and their consequences in two contexts, namely disability intersections with race, language, social class, and gender and the implementation of inclusive education across contexts and scales. Dr. Artiles edits the book series Disability, Culture, & Equity (Teachers College Press). He has received various awards that include a 2017 AERA Presidential Citation, the 2017 AERA Review of Research Award, and the 2012 AERA’s Palmer O. Johnson Award. He was a co-author of the consensus study report Fostering the Development and Educational Success of Young Language Learners and Dual Language Learners (Institute of Medicine/National Research Council). Dr. Artiles is a member of the National Academy of Education, was elected Vice President and is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. He was a Spencer Foundation/National Academy of Education Postdoctoral Fellow and has received mentoring awards from the Spencer Foundation, AERA, and ASU.
