Ability Profiling and School Failure: One Child's Struggle to be Seen as Competent

Ability Profiling and School Failure, 2nd editionexplores the social and contextual forces that shape the appearance of academic ability and disability and how these forces influence the perception of academic underachievement of minority students. At the book'¬"s core is a powerful case study of a competent fifth grader, an African American boy growing up in a predominantly white, rural community, who was excluded from participating in science and literacy discourses within his classroom community. The case study allows for the integration of the story of the student's struggle to be seen as competent with the author'¬"s perspective as a researcher and teacher-educator engaged in professional development with the teacher. This new edition situates the book and its case study within current conversations about the contextualized nature of disability, exploring the role of situated literacies, classroom interactions, and social stereotypes in shaping students'¬" identification as "disabled." The author connects her work to disability studies in education and recent research into the overrepresentation of minority students in special education. Ability Profiling and School Failure, 2nd editionexplores the situated and socially constructed nature of ability, identity, and achievement, and illustrates the role of educational and social exclusion in positioning students within particular identities.