You’re On Your Own, Kid: A study on how general education teachers experience working with students with disabilities

Abstract

The United States public education system has a disconnect between teachers’ experiences and ever-growing student heterogeneity – heterogeneity in race, ethnicity, language, cultural background, and disability. Disability is now understood as an identity that contributes to the intersectionality of how students experience school. While the number of students with disabilities who need differentiated educational support increases, the training and support teachers receive have not kept pace with student needs. This study investigated how four general education teachers at an elementary school in Washington State experience working with students with disabilities and explores common themes and experiences teachers may have. Applying the theoretical foundation of DisCrit (Annamma, 2013) and the Model of Teacher Identity (Mockler, 2011), this qualitative study used in-depth interviews and thematic analysis to understand how teacher identity impacts participants’ work with students with disabilities. This work contributes to the growing body of literature aimed at improving schooling for all students.