Special Education as Neoliberal Property: The Racecraft,Biopolitics, and Immunization of Disability

Through the juxtaposition of 2 recent Supreme Court actions—Allston v. Lower Merion County School District (2015) and Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District (2017)—this article argues that special education is a neoliberal property that works to recruit disability through scientific-juridical qualifications of educational life that are more likely to be available for White students who have essentialized disabilities than students of color who are ascribed disability labels. This thesis draws from a variety of theoretical perspectives—including, racecraft, biopolitics, and immunization—to formulate a crip reading of present special education policy. Although critiquing overrepresentation and disproportionality, this article also suggests a way of dialectically attenting to the uses of disability labeling toward the reciprocal production of pathological ableism and biopolitical racism. Moving from a racecraft of disability labeling to a biopolitics of special education, this article concludes by arguing that Whiteness recruits disability into its self-enclosed and propertied boundaries with the effect that educational life is contractually immunized against communal obligations to human difference. James Baldwin’s (1963/1998), “A Talk to Teachers,” critically inflects this conclusion and also motivates the article’s analytical excursion into the troubling nexus of special education policy, neoliberalism, and Whiteness.     

A review of models of vertical, leg, and knee stiffness in adults for running, jumping or hopping tasks

Abstract The 'stiffness' concept originates from Hooke's law which states that the force required to deform an object is related to a spring constant and the distance that object is deformed. Research into stiffness in the human body is undergoing unprecedented popularity; possibly because stiffness has been associated with sporting performance and some lower limb injuries. However, some inconsistencies surrounding stiffness measurement exists bringing into question the integrity of some research related to stiffness. The aim of this study was to review literature which describes how vertical, leg and knee stiffness has been measured in adult populations while running, jumping or hopping. A search of the entire MEDLINE, PubMed and SPORTDiscus databases and an iterative reference check was performed. Sixty-seven articles were retrieved; 21 measured vertical stiffness, 51 measured leg stiffness, and 22 measured knee stiffness. Thus, some studies measured several 'types' of stiffness. Vertical stiffness was typically the quotient of ground reaction force and centre of mass displacement. For leg stiffness it was and change in leg length, and for the knee it was the quotient of knee joint moments and change in joint angle. Sample size issues and measurement techniques were identified as limitations to current research.     

Further validation of the Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders in middle and junior high school

The Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders (SSBD), a screening system to identify elementary students at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders, was evaluated for use in middle and junior high schools. Teachers completed SSBD Stages One and Two on students in grades 6 to 8 who had characteristics of internalizing or externalizing disorders. Teacher, parent, and self‐rating forms of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) and the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) were also completed on 66 students nominated via the SSBD as at risk for internalizing and externalizing problems. Office discipline referrals and grade point averages, for students nominated at SSBD Stage One, were compared with nonnominated students resulting in medium to large effect sizes. Small to moderate correlations were also found between SSBD Stage Two scores and ASEBA and SSRS scores, including several from the parent and student forms. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

From Genes to Proteins to Behavior: A Laboratory Project That Enhances Student Understanding in Cell and Molecular Biology

In the laboratory, students can actively explore concepts and experience the nature of scientific research. We have devised a 5-wk laboratory project in our introductory college biology course whose aim was to improve understanding in five major concepts that are central to basic cellular, molecular biology, and genetics while teaching molecular biology techniques. The project was focused on the production of adenine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and investigated the nature of mutant red colonies of this yeast. Students created red mutants from a wild-type strain, amplified the two genes capable of giving rise to the red phenotype, and then analyzed the nucleotide sequences. A quiz assessing student understanding in the five areas was given at the start and the end of the course. Analysis of the quiz showed significant improvement in each of the areas. These areas were taught in the laboratory and the classroom; therefore, students were surveyed to determine whether the laboratory played a role in their improved understanding of the five areas. Student survey data demonstrated that the laboratory did have an important role in their learning of the concepts. This project simulated steps in a research project and could be adapted for an advanced course in genetics.     

The aims of lifelong learning through the dynamic of ambition

This article addresses the personal negotiations that lead individuals to pursue adult education. Analysing this process determines ambitions pursued, and thus makes it possible to identify how the individuals involved perceive their desired future as an improvement. This study found that ambitions were negotiated in order to make them acceptable to the individuals themselves, but that their negotiation also involved others; at the same time, it examined the aims and constraints implied by the process. This negotiation process draws on norms and rules related to the search for a better work–life balance. Three types of ambition were identified as models for negotiating the social organisation of time. The paper concludes with the benefits of studying ambition for the field of adult education, and on the potential contribution that can be made by considering these programmes as a support in the construction of identities, even though this aspect tends to be diminished by neoliberal hegemony regarding adult training programmes.     

Between Mere Tolerance and Robust Respect: Mutuality as a Basis for Civic Education in Pluralist Democracies

This essay by Suzanne Rosenblith and Benjamin Bindewald is motivated by the question of how do those who value civic liberalism give the religiously orthodox a reason to engage in pluralist democratic deliberations in a manner that does not allow intolerance to undermine the foundations of liberal democracy. Introducing the idea of tolerance as mutuality — that is, a will to relationship — the authors argue, strikes a balance between those theories that are too demanding of the religiously orthodox and those that are not exacting enough. Applying the principle of tolerance as mutuality to the special space of public schools allows for a new way to conceptualize civic education in pluralist democracies.