Critical Pedagogy and Analysis of Education

¶ … push towards greater inclusiveness has led to meaningful trends in American education, especially since the passing of federal legislation ranging from the Educate America Act and No Child Left Behind to the Regular Education Initiative. To learn more about the ramifications of any federal legislation, parents, students, teachers, administrators, and community leaders can access the appropriate web portals to detailed information including full-text versions of the bills. Moreover, any interested parties can learn about how the federal legislation impacts educational practice, pedagogy, and curriculum in their state or district by visiting the web pages of those venues. Exploring the issues of legislation can be daunting without verbal supports, which is why some parents, students, and other stakeholders might want to attend public workshops and meetings related to education in their areas as part of the "comprehensive involvement plan" vision that coincides with Goals 2000 ("Goals 2000: Educate America Act," n.d.). Likewise, scheduling meetings with administrators and community leaders might help to illuminate some of the more confusing or complex issues associated with educational inclusiveness and educational policy in America. A wealth of peer-reviewed journal articles may also provide additional information to parties interested in exploring specific angles of educational policy.

I would want to make certain that special education law in all its forms would be included in any discussion about policy. Inclusive classrooms and related pedagogical issues affect all students, and not just those diagnosed with disabilities. Teachers are at the forefront of all discussions related to special education policy, which is why I would want to be sure that educators were included in any discussion about the law. To properly address special education law in a broader context, it would only be necessary to refer to multiple sections of bills like the No Child Left Behind Act, which includes provisions for special education.

2. Ultimately, educators remain "in charge of the instruction of all children in their classrooms, including those who are not succeeding in the mainstream," (Jenkins, Pious & Jewell, 1990, p. 479). Formal accountability is rarely challenged, even when it is taken for granted in public schools. Within this framework of absolute accountability for educators, it is nevertheless necessary to remember that educators work within systems and institutions and are subject to prevailing laws and related constraints. Accountability has recently become overly connected with standardized common core standards that fail to meet the needs of students.

In the attempt to reduce achievement gaps, few significant improvements have been made to student outcomes, particularly in linguistic minority communities and cultural minority communities (Woods, Dooley, Luke & Exley, 2014). As a result, a number of educational and curriculum reform movements have taken root, including the increasingly vocal push toward charter schools that offer alternative curriculums. However, the dissatisfaction with NCLB should lead to a complete overhaul if not entire dismantling of the Act. Half measures will remain inept, and teachers and administrators need to start subverting what Woods et al. (2014) call "centralized curriculum dictates and neoliberal accountability measures" in favor of a more realistic and more genuinely responsive pedagogy (p. 509).