What Do the Experts Say about Urban Special Education Issues?

Overview & Synopsis

The participants in a special education doctoral seminar for Urban SEALS (Special Education Academic Leaders) interacted with 4 national experts in urban education to identify and resolve several issues. The participants examined issues in four general areas: factors that impact students with disabilities in urban settings; factors related to socio-political arenas (including national and state mandates); factors related to personnel preparation; and factors related to school administration. The participants organized themselves into four study groups that focused on summarizing and critiquing the body of knowledge generated by one of four national experts: Vivian Correa, Robin Smith, Cheryl Utley, and Janette Klingner. Once they had summarized and critiqued that literature, they formulated questions to pose to the experts via email correspondence. The report represents what they discovered.