Intersections Of Diversity Literacy And Learner Difficulties

This book invites readers to challenge, corroborate, and add to the discourse on more inclusive pedagogical practice. Presenting theoretically and empirically informed research, it highlights potential considerations regarding the intersections of diversity, literacy, and learner difficulties. These three areas provide a stage where opposing paradigms often pose challenges for educators and create unnecessary barriers to providing the best education for all learners. These barriers might reveal how students are positioned through a deficit lens rather than one that recognizes individual differences and how these learner differences sometimes result in labels or put students at increased risk of encountering difficulties. The contributing authors’ goals are to start and sustain a conversation that examines these perspectives and to offer counter-narratives to the deficit lens by recognizing that individual difference does not need to be a barrier to educational access. By examining opportunities for more inclusive educational success, this book encourages discourse among key stakeholders; further, it goes beyond problematizing to offer new avenues for optimal learning and inclusive pedagogy across multiple contexts.

Caribbean Discourse in Inclusive Education Volume II “Responding to Learner Diversity and Learner Difficulties” shares selected critical reflections and recommendations on the way educational communities respond to student diversity and difficulties learning. These contexts include the Caribbean, the Diaspora, and beyond. Authors explore issues and strategies for realizing and sustaining the agenda of education for all within primarily, but not limited to, the Caribbean. While the authors are aware of the ongoing debate between the terms ‘education for all’ and ‘inclusive education’, we use these terms interchangeably. We hold the position that inclusive education is about commitment to removing barriers to optimum learning for all learners regardless of age, ability, ethnicity, gender, geography, race, religion, sexual orientation or other differences. ‘Responding to Learner Diversity and Difficulties’ extend the discourse to include stakeholders committed to sharing their experiences and strategies for overcoming barriers to inclusive education. This second volume presents research that examines how teachers can respond to students with disabilities and difficulties learning, teach challenging curriculum content in mathematics and literacy, build citizenship through student voice, improve teacher practice via co-teaching and critical reflection, promote inclusive practice through leadership and advocacy. It can be used as a core text or companion reader for students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, lecturers, practitioners, researchers and policy makers.

Addressing disability not as a form of student impairment—as it is typically perceived at the postsecondary level—but rather as an important dimension of student diversity and identity, this book explores how disability can be more effectively incorporated into college environments. Chapters propose new perspectives, empirical research, and case studies to provide the necessary foundation for understanding the role of disability within campus climate and integrating students with disabilities into academic and social settings. Contextualizing disability through the lens of intersectionality, Disability as Diversity in Higher Education illustrates how higher education institutions can use policies and practices to enhance inclusion and student success.

This is the first research handbook to address all dimensions of diversity that have an impact on literacy achievement. Leading experts examine how teaching and learning intersect with cultural and language differences and socioeconomic disparities in today's increasingly diverse schools and communities. The volume weaves compelling research findings together with theory, policy considerations, and discussions of exemplary instructional practices. It offers fresh perspectives on such topics as family literacy, multiliteracies, drawing on cultural resources in the classroom, factors that promote success in high-poverty schools, equity issues, and ways to teach specific literacy skills. The concluding section provides crucial recommendations for teacher preparation and professional development.

Reading Fundamentals for Students with Learning Difficulties is a foundational resource on reading instruction for students with learning difficulties. This comprehensive, practical textbook provides fundamental information related to typical and atypical reading development, reading instruction within K-12 classrooms, and how to identify reading problems and provide interventions to a wide range of students who struggle to learn. Throughout the text, cutting edge research on reading instruction for students with learning disabilities and English Learners is translated to practice, making it accessible to even the most novice teachers. Each section concludes with application activities, including self-tests and discussion prompts, to reinforce learning.

In recent decades, the linguistic and cultural diversity of school populations in the United States and other industrialized countries has rapidly increased along with globalization processes. At the same time, schooling as it is currently constituted continues to be ineffective for large numbers of students. Exploring crucial issues that emerge at the intersection of linguistic diversity and education, this volume: provides an up-to-date review of sociolinguistic research and practice aimed at improving education for students who speak vernacular varieties of US English, English-based Creole languages, and non-English languages explores the impact of dialect differences and community languages on ethnolinguistically diverse students’ academic achievement challenges the dominant monolingual Standard language ideology presents sociolinguistically based approaches to language and literacy education that acknowledge and build on the linguistic and cultural resources students bring into the school. Throughout, the authors argue for the application of research-based knowledge to the dire situation (as measured by school failure and drop-out rates) of many ethnolinguistic populations in US schools. The overall aim of the volume is to heighten acknowledgement and recognition of the linguistic and cultural resources students bring into the schools and to explore ways in which these resources can be used to extend the sociolinguistic repertoires, including academic English, of all students.

"Collier provides research-based and classroom-proven intervention strategies that allow schools to effectively address learning and adaptation issues of diverse students. By using these strategies within an RTI model, school teams can ensure that the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students are appropriately identified and addressed." —Laura Lukens, ELL Program Coordinator North Kansas City Schools, MO "This easy-to-understand, practical book helps teachers put clear guidelines, effective collaboration, and appropriate decision-making processes in place to distinguish between students who are merely in the process of second-language acquisition and those who have genuine special education needs." —Amy Mazur, Lead Faculty for Bilingual Special Education, Professor of Special Education The George Washington University Provide targeted instruction to ELLs and other diverse learners! Many Response to Intervention (RTI) models were developed to identify specific learning disabilities in English-speaking students. When using RTI with culturally and linguistically diverse students, especially non-native English speakers and those with limited English proficiency, educators must look beyond students′ academic performance in reading and mathematics to address complex learning and behavior issues. This research-based resource provides more than 200 instructional interventions for teaching the growing population of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds within an RTI framework. Organized by the tiers of RTI, these specific interventions help classroom teachers address students′ cognitive, behavior, literacy, and communication issues at each level. This book features: A reader-friendly format that allows busy teachers to easily find the interventions they need Straightforward, concrete directions for using each intervention Examples from practice and a glossary to aid implementation RTI for Diverse Learners offers step-by-step guidance for distinguishing between language development and special education needs in diverse students and providing appropriate instruction.

The purpose of this book is to communicate findings of a research synthesis investigating the bases of reading failure and the curricular and instructional basics to help guide the design and advancement of children's reading performance. The synthesis--completed by the National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators (NCITE) and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs--was conducted as part of NCITE's mission to improve the quality of educational tools that largely shape practice in American schools.