Introduction to the New Editors of Exceptional Children: The Editorial Vision of the New Team

Abstract

For over 75 years, Exceptional Children (EC) has been a beacon for special education scholars, practitioners, and policymakers concerned with educational and social access, participation, and outcomes for youth with disabilities. Through our personal and professional experiences, we have engaged with EC’s rich contributions to equitable and inclusive special education and are hopeful and excited to serve as editors for the next 4 years. We will continue to ensure that EC addresses critical issues affecting children, youth, and adults with disabilities across educational settings by situating responsive, highquality education as an issue of educational justice and emphasizing the equity-oriented foundations and ongoing commitments of the special education field. We are deeply committed and have the track record to demonstrate our collective efforts and impacts creating equitable, just education systems for students with disabilities at the nexus of research, policy, and practice. Our vision for EC over the next 4 years is to ensure equitable educational access, participation, and outcomes for children and youth with disabilities by expanding educational partners’ capacities to provide robust, effective opportunities to learn for all students, with an emphasis on students with disabilities. Our vision is directly aligned with the Council for Exceptional Children’s mission of cultivating, supporting, and empowering education professionals who work with individuals with disabilities. Broadly, and from our respective social and professional locations, we will continue the work of previous editors Drs. William Therrien and John Willis Lloyd by positioning EC as a leading venue for dialogue around critical issues in the field of special education. We express our sincere appreciation to Bill and John for their leadership and for their supportive welcome of us into our new roles. Specific to our editorial vision, we will elicit high-quality scholarship from leading and exemplary scholars at all stages of their career who bring strong interdisciplinary perspectives, in recognition that the field of special education is first and foremost an educational and social discipline. We encourage submission of research articles that apply quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, along with other scholarly forms. Together, our vision and the mission of CEC can inform the future of EC in ways that take a purposeful stance in extending the journal’s current aim to publish “reports of research and analyses that examine and advance education and development of infants, toddlers, children, youth, and adults with exceptionalities” (https://journals. sagepub.com/author-instructions/ecx). As our nation continues to respond to the ongoing injustices and a deadly pandemic, students, families, and educators grapple with recovery from the most widespread disruption of public education and services for children with disabilities in recent history. Furthermore, the myriad effects of the virus (e.g., long COVID) and associated traumas of this era are likely to greatly expand the number of children and families who would benefit from the knowledge and support of the field of special education (Sullivan, 2022). Within these complex times, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and President Biden have articulated across multiple outlets their pursuit of a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including students with disabilities. Current and previous editors, as well as scholars who have published in EC, have been instrumental in such comprehensive approaches, situating the journal as a resource for advancing equity related to Editorial