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Enclaves of Privilege: Access and Opportunity for Students with Disabilities in Urban K-8 Schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2020

Christine Ashby ,
Julia M White ,
Beth Ferri ,
Siqi Li  and
Lauren Ashby
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Abstract

Middle grades education has been the object of efforts to remediate US education to address an array of social problems. Districts have sought out K-8 models to create smaller learning communities, require fewer school transitions, and allow sustained student connections. This paper offers a historical analysis of K-8 schools, drawing on statistical and spatial methods and a DisCrit intersectional lens to illustrate how creating K-8 schools produced enclaves of privilege in one urban school district. K-8 schools in our target district became whiter and wealthier than district averages. Students with disabilities attending K-8 schools tended to be placed in more inclusive classrooms, where they were more likely to be integrated alongside nondisabled peers than counterparts attending traditional middle schools. We consider how the configuration of K-8 schools, which could be considered an administrative decision to better serve students, has obscured interworkings of power and privilege.

Keywords

K-8 educationDisCritdisability studiescritical race spatial analysisspecial education historyGIS
Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 60 , Special Issue 3: Disability and the History of Education , August 2020 , pp. 407 - 429
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 History of Education Society

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