Voices on the Margins: Inclusive Education at the Intersection of Language, Literacy, and Technology

A rich view of inclusive education at the intersection of language, literacy, and technology—drawing on case study research in a diverse full-inclusion US school before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite advancing efforts at integration, the segregation of students with disabilities from their nondisabled peers persists. In the United States, 34 percent of all students with disabilities spend at least 20 percent of their instructional time in segregated classrooms. For students with intellectual or multiple disabilities, segregated placement soars to 80 percent. In Voices on the Margins, Yenda Prado and Mark Warschauer provide an ethnography of an extraordinary full-inclusion public charter school in the western United States—Future Visions Academy. And they ask: What does it mean to be inclusive in today’s schools with their increasingly pervasive use of digital technologies?

Voices on the Margins examines the ways digital technologies support inclusion and language and literacy practices for culturally and linguistically diverse children with and without disabilities. A wide range of qualitative data collected in the case study illuminates three central themes: (1) the kinds of social organization that allow a fully inclusive environment for children with disabilities to thrive, (2) the ways that digital technologies can be used to help students express their voice and agency, while developing language and literacy skills, and (3) the ways that digital technologies can be used to foster stronger networks and connections between students, teachers, staff, and parents.

Yenda Prado is an emerging technologies researcher, educator, and author. She has written and advised on inclusive technology use in education and media for diverse organizations including the US Department of Education, PBS Kids, and the University of California.

Mark Warschauer is Professor of Education and Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, where he directs the Digital Learning Lab. He carries out research and development on digital tools and environments to support diverse learners. He is a member of the National Academy of Education.