Praxis Convergence: How Special Educators in One Texas District Reimagined Inclusion Through Reflective Action

Abstract

Beginning in the 2014-15 school year, Texas schools could no longer use a modified standardized test for students labeled with disabilities due to the loss of a federal waiver. The US Department of Education rescinded the waiver that had allowed Texas to give two percent of the students, specifically those labeled with disabilities, a modified high-stakes exam. Through the lens of Disability Studies and the use of phenomenological methods, the researcher explored the lived experiences of special education teachers and administrators who are making changes to their pedagogical practices and philosophical beliefs to provide students labeled with disabilities the knowledge they need to be successful with the general curriculum and standardized test.

Through analysis of the data collected, an analytical framework emerged, the Praxis Convergence framework. This framework consists of three cyclical moments that reflect the shared realities of teachers and administrators during the implementation of the new policy directive examined in this study. The Praxis Convergence framework consists of three moments: Political Catalyst, Practice Collision, and Praxis Convergence. The first moment was the Political Catalyst, or the policy directive, that provided the impetus to make changes in the education of students labeled with disabilities. These changes collided with the current operations within the district which gave rise to the second moment of the framework, Practice Collision. Practice Collision was signified by local shifts in the place, people, pedagogy, and philosophy of education regarding the instruction of students labeled with disabilities. These collisions gradually gave way to Praxis Convergence, or a set of newly developed normative praxes, which were actualized through professional development, personal transformation, and the vision of possibilities.

This framework will be useful to researchers, school districts, schools, departments, and even teachers to provide a description of the various aspects that should be considered when conflict arises during the implementation of a new policy and to illustrate how reflection can lead to positive changes which should ultimately advance the goals of a more equitable and democratic public education.