“Well, Those Students Have a Name:” Special Educators’ Beliefs About Students Labeled With Emotional/Behavioral Disorders

Teachers’ beliefs influence the educational experiences they provide for students with disabilities. Furthermore, beliefs are highly contextualized, necessitating careful attention to the contexts in which they are developed and deployed. Informed by DisCrit, we employed narrative analysis to explore the beliefs of five special educators working in self-contained settings serving students labeled with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD). We identified two distinct beliefs profiles—asset-oriented and deficit-oriented—and one profile that drew on both asset- and deficit-oriented beliefs. Teachers’ beliefs about students labeled with EBD informed how they made sense of the purpose of special education and the roles they should take up in pursuit of that purpose. Findings have implications for teacher education and development efforts.