Black Special Education Teacher Educators’ Practice of Resistance

Abstract

Many special education teacher preparation programs emphasize equity and social justice when preparing future educators who are well equipped to address racial disparities in education. Black special education teacher educators have an impactful role to play in the visioning of racially equitable teacher preparation programs, despite often being one of only a few in their departments, colleges, and institutions. The challenge, however, for these educators is navigating the pernicious, insidious, and deeply rooted barriers associated with Whiteness within predominantly White institutions. Using a DisCrit lens and Whiteness theories, the authors explored how Black teacher educators in special education experienced and disrupted the existence of Whiteness through qualitative interviews with individuals across the United States. These teacher educators presented their definition of quality special educators, as well as their recommendations for increasing racial equity in K-12 settings through preparing racial justice-focused special education teachers.