Larkin Awarded Grant to Enhance Racial and Disability Inclusion in Children’s Literature

November 14, 2024 – College of Education (COE) faculty member, Kayla Larkin has received a grant from the Council for Exception Children’s (CEC) Racial Justice Grant for her project, titled “Developing Culturally Responsive and Critically Inclusive Memphis Educators and Classrooms through Children’s Literature." 

“To be recognized from the CEC is humbling and inspiring,” Larkin said. “This is the first grant of hopefully many to get funding for teaching, research and literature initiatives aimed at developing critical perspectives of disability.”

Larkin, an assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership (ICL), said this initial funding will allow her to obtain multicultural literature that is representative of children with disabilities. From there, she hopes to purchase copies of this literature for each aspiring teacher in the COE, in hopes of shaping their perspectives on disability, perspectives that Larkin says are skewed.

She says students of color are underrepresented in children’s literature and ELA curricula but overrepresented in literature on special education. Given the demographic breakdown of Memphis Shelby County Schools (MSCS), Larkin says this type of literature is vital to young teaching candidates at the University of Memphis.

“As individuals tasked with preparing teachers, it's essential that we are obtaining funding and resources to effectively support teachers and avoid reproducing systemic inequities, including dysconscious racism and ableism,” Larkin said. “Developing culturally responsive and critically inclusive Memphis educators and classrooms starts with having classroom texts and libraries that allow our students to see themselves.”

Larkin hopes to receive additional funding in the spring that will help her achieve her next set of goals in this research. The CEC is known as a special education flagship organization, supporting our program accreditation processes and providing professional development and research resources at institutions across the country, including the University of Memphis.

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