Teaching Everyone ─ An Introduction to Inclusive Education

Dr. Katrina L. Arndt is an Associate Professor of Inclusive Education at St. John Fisher College. She teaches courses in the undergraduate and graduate programs in inclusive pedagogy, collaboration, assessment, classroom management, and diversity issues, and has supervised student teachers and graduate-fi eld placements. Before entering higher education, she was a preschool teacher, paraprofessional, and special education teacher in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for 10 years. She then worked as secondary English coteacher in the Rochester, New York, area.

Dr. Arndt holds a B.A. in philosophy from Grinnell College and an M.A. in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota. Her Ph.D. in special education and her Certifi cate of Advanced Study in disability studies are from Syracuse University. She joined the faculty of St. John Fisher College in 2005, and was a part of the group of faculty who voted to merge the Special Education, Adolescence Education, and Childhood Education Departments to become a single inclusive education department in 2010. Her research interests focus broadly on inclusive practices in schooling and narrowly on sharing the perspectives of children, youth, and adults who are visually impaired, blind, and deafblind. Katrina spends her free time enjoying the outdoors with her partner Lauren, visiting her many nieces and nephews, and hiking in the Adirondacks.

Dr. Whitney H. Rapp is an Associate Professor of Inclusive Education at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, where she teaches courses on inclusive education pedagogy, assessment, classroom management, and diversity issues. She is currently serving as Associate Dean of the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr., School of Education. Dr. Rapp holds aB.A. in elementary education and psychology from the State University of New York at Potsdam and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in special education from Michigan State University. Prior to her 14 years of experience in teacher education programs, Whitney taught many different grade levels in a variety of settings, from fully inclusive classrooms to residential special education schools. All of these experiences reinforced her belief that all children can learn and that all children should learn together in inclusive settings. Whitneya€?s current research interests include universal design for learning—particularly strategies to support executive functioning abilities. She presents often at local, state, and national conferences on differentiation of instruction and teacher education. Whitneya€?s spare time is spent with her husband and three children, riding bikes, hiking, gardening, reading, watching movies, and enjoying Owasco Lake.