The COVID-19 pandemic, along with recent racial injustices, highlighted the experiences of students with disabilities from historically marginalized communities and the trauma and academic setbacks they experienced. An initiative from two IU School of Education faculty hopes to address some of these challenges.

Equity in Action was founded by Clinical Assistant Professor Tina O’Neal and Associate Professor Sarah Hurwitz to develop research and practical approaches to support historically marginalized children with disabilities. Because post-pandemic recovery will be especially important for these individuals who were academically underserved and racially traumatized during the pandemic, the initiative is devoted to improving special education by promoting evidence-based instructional practices in teacher preparation and focusing research initiatives on improving outcomes.

Teacher training priorities include culturally responsive teaching, trauma- informed care practices, social-emotional learning and assistive technology. The Urban Ed Field Experience is a highlight of this approach: teacher candidates in the Teaching All Learners dual-licensure program travel to Indianapolis Public Schools each week where they can develop relationships with students from diverse backgrounds. This field experience allows these candidates to apply what they are learning in their methods and urban education seminar courses to real-world settings.

Equity in Action is also focused on research. One research initiative, “Pandemic-Related Interruptions to Early Intervention Services: Impacts on Student Academic and Behavioral Outcomes” highlights how the pandemic disrupted educational access for young students, especially students with disabilities. Delayed enrollment into special education, dropped services and postponed Kindergarten entry caused many to miss out on the early intervention and early school-aged services to which they were entitled. Now that students have returned to school, the post-pandemic “rebound” has been much more limited than expected, at least in part due to an unprecedented shortage of experienced special education teachers and escalation of behavioral issues among many students because of pandemic-related disruptions.

“Through Equity in Action, we hope to reduce disciplinary disparities, improve culturally responsive teaching and better support students with disabilities in the state of Indiana. Through special education research and by connecting our teacher candidates with historically marginalized communities, we emphasize cultural competence and understanding complex issues related to historically marginalized communities,” O’Neal and Hurwitz added.