Research Issues in Contemporary Education

Guest Editor: Dr. Keita Rone Wilson

Manuscripts Due: January 15, 2023

Teacher preparation within the field of special education has historically framed disability from a medicalized deficit model that focused on intervention and remediation. This rigid framework resulted in educational structures that supported ableism and contributed to segregated learning environments. As general and special education teachers’ preservice teachers become more aware of inclusive pedagogy, they must also consider the field of disability studies and how it aims to resist old socially constructed frameworks of disability. There has been an ongoing push to integrate parts of disability studies into teacher preparation programs to better equip educators to recognize the intersectionality of disability and identity. Moreover, traditional inclusive pedagogy aims to create equitable learning environments solely based on constructs such as race and gender, yet disability was often not addressed from a social justice perspective. 

The focus of this themed issue is to have authors speak on the ways in which disability studies can be woven into teacher preparation programs to equip educators to challenge systems that support ableism and challenge inclusion. This issue will also aim to capture how society impacts our understanding of the disabled experience. We are interested in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method research studies and welcome papers that theorize the potential impact of embedding disability studies in the teacher preparation curricula. Additionally, we welcome studies that provide both general education and special education perspectives. 

Some potential topics for this special issue that authors might focus on include (non-exhaustive):

• Disability and identity in education
• Disability and representation in the media
• Disability research and studies in special education and teacher preparation 
• Framing disability in teacher preparation programs
• Disability, inclusion, and social justice research and scholarship
• Sociology/anthropology and disability

Manuscript Submissions

All manuscript must be written in MS Word and follow the guidelines of the latest version of the APA 7^th edition manual. The manuscript must include the following:

• A cover page that includes: a working title, the name of the author(s), affiliation, and e-mail address.
• An abstract of 150-200 words
• The recommended manuscript length is 5,000 to 10,000 words, excluding references

Manuscript questions should be e-mailed to Dr. Keita Rone Wilson at keita.wilson@louisiana.edu. Manuscripts will be submitted through the RICE journal website at: http://www.leraweb.net/ojs/index.php/RICE. When submitting your manuscript select the section “2023 Special Education Issue”.

All accepted manuscripts will go through a double-blind peer-review process, wherein all contributing authors will be expected to review at least one manuscript scheduled to be included in this special issue. If at any point the reviewers and/or editors find the manuscript is not consistent with the highest standards of academic scholarship, the editors reserve the right to remove the manuscript from the special issue.

Tentative Schedule for Publication

Manuscript submission deadline: January 15, 2023

Manuscript review will be completed: February 17, 2023

Author revisions submitted: March 17, 2023

Second round of reviews and final acceptance: April 21, 2023

Galley proofs e-mailed to the author: May 26, 2023

Anticipated publication date: June/July 2023

RICE accepts manuscripts on a continual basis. Manuscripts can be any length from 5,000 - 10,000 words, excluding references, and must follow the 7th Edition of the APA Publication Manual. 

Research Issues in Contemporary Education (RICE) is a nationally indexed, double blind peer-reviewed, online journal that publishes educational research studies, literature reviews, theoretical manuscripts, and practitioner-oriented articles regarding issues in education. Views expressed in the articles are the views of the authors, and publication in RICE does not constitute endorsement. Submission of an article implies that it has not been published elsewhere and is not currently under review for publication elsewhere. Authors should submit their manuscripts through the RICE online journal portal.