Chapter 7: Disrupting the Status Quo: A Call for True Equity in Special Education

According to the most recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, students with disabilities continue to perform significantly below their general education peers (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). Over the past ten years, data show their outcomes have remained stagnant, at least 20% below their peers (2019). It is past time for school leaders to make a proactive and intentional decision to disrupt this status quo. This will require school leaders to recognize systemic oppression toward marginalized populations, including students with disabilities (McLeskey et al., 2014a; Khalifa, 2016). Throughout this chapter, we use the phrase exceptional learners to refer to students with identified learning needs using asset-based language.