GSoLEN and AACTE Webinar On Teaching Diverse Learners – Session 2

Currently, the demographics of the United States public school workforce are not representative of the increasingly diverse population of students in American classroom settings. As classroom settings grow in diversity, the teaching workforce remains predominantly white, middle class, and female. As a result of racial inequalities, it is possible that biases and stereotype threats exist within classroom settings, thereby impacting student experiences in school settings. In an era where, in the United States, our classrooms have never been more diverse, how can we best prepare teachers to expand their knowledge of disproportionality in special education, advocate for equity, and support students whose lives, experiences, and perceptions are different from theirs?

On February 9 from 12:00-1:00pm, Dr. Mildred Boveda and Dr. Endia Lindo will discuss the challenges of Black students who are identified for special education in the second webinar in this two-part series. Dr. Boveda and Dr. Lindo will lead a discussion on their recent book, Racism by Another Name: Black Students, Overrepresentation, and the Carceral State of Special Education, as well as strategies for advocating for equity in classroom settings. The speakers will examine the landscape of black students and families in navigating special education, and will discuss the intersection of race, gender, and dis/ability.

Mildred Boveda is an associate professor of Education (Special Education) at Penn State University. Prior to earning her Ph.D., Boveda worked as a special education teacher in Miami Dade County Public Schools. Her research has explored intersectional competence and consciousness to address educators’ understanding of diversity and how sociocultural markers intersect among families, students, colleagues, and schools in nuanced ways. Additionally, Boveda designed the Intersectional Competence measure to assess teachers’ preparedness for teaching diverse populations. She is a past president of the Division for Diverse and Exceptional Learners of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and a previous chair for the Diversity Caucus for the Teacher Education Division of CEC.

Endia Lindo is an Associate Professor of special education at Texas Christian University. Lindo earned her Ph.D. in Special Education from Vanderbilt University after working as a resource teacher. Her research focuses on reading outcomes for students with disabilities and struggling readers with interests in teaching reading comprehension and understanding social and familiar factors on students’