Serving students with disabilities in K-12 online learning: daily practices of special educators during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Online and distance education strategies offer a path for closing opportunity gaps for students with disabilities because of digital technologies’ flexibility and capacity for differentiation, but fully online schooling does always guarantee an inclusive education. The COVID-19-induced shift to remote learning highlighted the need for more insight into inclusive practices for students with disabilities in online contexts, especially at the K-12 levels. The present study describes special education teachers’ online teaching practices with students with disabilities and the necessary conditions for special educator use of technology in K-12 remote learning. Using in-depth interview (N = 2 0) and survey data with special educators teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, findings highlight specific strategies special educators use to differentiate instruction as well as innovations in hybrid content experiences and home-school partnerships across K-12 schooling. The practices of special educators teaching in online environments provide insights into how all educators can support learners with or without disabilities in K-12 distance education settings.

Keywords:

• online learning
• students with disabilities
• digital inclusion
• universal design for learning

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr. Stephanie Reich for her supervision of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was declared by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Integrated Research Training: Language and Literacy Disabilities (IRT-LDD) Personnel Preparation Leadership Grant, #H325D190031.

Notes on contributors

Allison Starks

Allison Starks is a mixed-methods researcher and doctoral candidate at the University of California-Irvine. She studies digital spaces as contexts for child development and how to promote digital equity for youth.