Scholar Interview

Dawn Pepper

University of Colorado Denver

SPED 5401: Seminar

Dr. Caron Westland

February 29, 2024

 I interviewed Dr. Amy Ferrell for my scholar. She is an associate professor at UCD in

the Special Education Department of the School of Education and Human Development. I

chose her after having classes with her and hearing what she said at the House of

Representatives about having alternative education tracks for special education teachers.

During the Center for Exceptional Children meeting last week she was also passionate about

not doing total inclusion as some districts are trying to implement. This goes along with the

chapters we read this week about inclusion.

Dr. Ferrell has been teaching for awhile at the university, and seems to have her finger

on the pulse of special education issues. She discusses the issues that are facing society like

racism, transphobia and ableism as issues that are faced in special education and society.

Funding is definitely an issue in education in general, and particularly special education.

She has a passion for literacy and critical literacy especially. I wanted to interview her

because she is passionate and spreads that passion in everything she does. I heard the small

speech in the House of Representatives and knew that she was my scholar because she really

influenced my thinking. I didn’t think that having alternative ways of getting a license was a

bad thing, but she convinced me otherwise.

I interviewed her via email, sending her the questions you had in the module and then

some followup questions from our CEC meeting and her responses to my emails. She is

always a wonderful source of information and gives her perspective, and is willing to

discuss her perspective and answer any questions.

Questions I Used for the Interview and Follow Up

1. What would you consider your passion in the field of Special Education?

2. How did you get interested in the field?

 3. What are the contributions that you are most proud of?

4. What are your goals for the future for the field?

5. What do you think is the greatest challenge the field of special education faces

today?

6. What do you see as the future of special education?

7. How did you get to speak in the House? Do some of your colleagues disagree

with your stance?

8. Thoughts about students getting passed on from one grade to the next, and then

not being able to read past a second grade level.

9. What can we do about total inclusion in some school districts?

Summary of Interview

Dr. Amy Ferrell is an associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver. She

teaches a variety of classes for graduate students in special education, and is always willing to

help with questions that come up or adding to a discussion of things she’s passionate about.

Her passion for education began as a child hearing stories from her grandparents. They drove a

school bus with developmentally disabled adults to the church where her grandfather was a

pastor. She went into education, but at the suggestion of her mother she decided to try special

education, and fell in love with it. Over the years she has written and co-written articles about

special education, especially about inclusion and literacy.

Dr. Ferrell is interested in inclusion in the sense of community. She does share the view

from our book (Bateman, et al, 2015) that total inclusion is a disservice to everyone involved,

but inclusion of students who are capable of doing the work in general education classes, with
accommodations, should happen. She thinks that inclusion should be thought of more as a

community. The classroom is a community and everyone should be celebrated for their

differences, not made to feel bad about those things. “Inclusion and belonging mean nothing

without attention to how power structures keep people, and in this case, people with

disabilities, from being their truest selves and that being enough.” (written correspondence

2/19/24). People with disabilities do not need to be “fixed”, they are not broken.

Dr. Ferrell also loves literacy instruction for students with disabilities. She thinks that

critical literacy needs to be explored more as an approach to teaching reading. Critical literacy

is a way of reading texts that questions what was written and the context of the writing. I

believe this goes along with Dr. Ferrell’s approach to other aspects of education, like the view

of inclusion, because it is questioning the status quo, and trying to help people to see

things/issues for themselves instead of how society traditionally sees things. Dr. Ferrell sees

the issues in special education to be related to society in general, and seeks to change that view

and have people think for themselves.

Recently, Dr. Ferrell got to testify in front of the House about how horrible it would be

for special education teachers to not have to go through the full training to become licensed,

instead fast tracking it so that educators could teach in special education while getting a degree.

She was only given 2 minutes instead of her promised three, but she made her concerns known

and was convincing, so the bill was scrapped. This continues Dr. Ferrell’s trend of speaking

out against the establishment, encouraging people to think in a different way.

Reflection

I have learned so much from Dr. Ferrell in my time in this program. It was really great

to be able to delve further into her thought processes and how she thinks. She really is a quiet
but strong force for change. With critical literacy and inclusion as community as passions, Dr.

Ferrell really will make a difference in the future of special education because these are very

forward thinking things. If she can get a new generation of teachers out there to push for these

things, our students will grow up thinking for themselves and not be influenced by social and

political pressures, and our society will be better for it. I do believe that we need to keep up on

the issues in special education, as well as what the latest research says. Everything is for the

benefit of our kids.

 References

Bateman, B., Lloyd, J., Tankersley, M. (Eds.). (2015). Enduring issues in special education:

Personal perseverance. New York: Routledge.

Colorado General Assembly. (2024). Professional endorsement special education teaching.

Retrieved February 27, 2024, from https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1087