Each year, the TASH Conference brings together our constituents to share resources and success stories, learn about field-driven best practices, and network within a community engaged in shared values. The Conference is attended by passionate leaders, experts, and advocates from every corner of the disability community. Conference attendees are influential in their fields and communities, and play an important role in the provision of services and supports for the millions of individuals and organizations around the world; and include professors and researchers from leading institutions; those involved in local, state, and federal governments and public policy; special and general educators, and school administrators; self-advocates, adult service providers; students, family members, and many others. This year’s conference theme, Building Diverse and Inclusive Communities, reminds us that equity, opportunity, and inclusion relies on the input of broad perspectives and experiences.
The purpose of this scoping review was to examine empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals from 1999 to 2018 focused on teacher agency for inclusive education for children and youth with disabilities grades K-12. Two research questions guided the review. The conceptual framework proposes that teacher agency for inclusive schooling requires disrupting traditional educator identities and segregated schooling practices. Eleven articles met the inclusion criteria. The results revealed varied conceptualizations of teacher agency and inclusive education within studies. In addition, we report on four themes focused on teachers' agentic actions towards inclusive education: (a) instructional strategies, (b) collaboration, (c) family-school-community connections, and (d) other agentic moves. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
