Reconceptualizing Parents as Policy Agents Within Special Education

Abstract

Existing research on the implementation of special education (SE) has consistently documented racial inequities in the law’s implementation. We present a new theoretical framework to guide future research. SE law requires parents to act as initiators, developers, and enforcers in the implementation of SE policy. Drawing from law and society research, we demonstrate how the law’s design contributes to structural inequalities because it conscripts parents to work as policy agents. Parents may not be adequately resourced for their role, which contributes to inequalities and makes structural changes difficult. We argue that this framework may shift approaches to research within and beyond SE, helping to reorient approaches to understanding parents’ roles and the reproduction of inequities within educational policy implementation.