Amanda L. Miller

Amanda L. Miller

Assistant Professor of Special Education; Affiliated Faculty Michigan Developmental Disabilities Institute (MI-DDI)

313-577-6724

hf7098@wayne.edu; almiller@wayne.edu

Office hours: By appointment

Office location: 285 Education Building

Amanda L. Miller

Degrees and Certifications

  • 2019 Ph.D., Special Education, ACCESS Scholar, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
  • 2007 M.Ed., Special Education, SKIES Scholar, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
  • 2000 B.A., Elementary Education, Life Science Concentration, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN

Responsibilities

I am an assistant professor and critical educator in the Teacher Education Division. I engage in research, teaching, and service related to equity, justice, and access in education.

Biography

Area of Expertise

  • Critical, Participatory Qualitative Inquiry
  • Youth Perspectives
  • Accessible Inclusive Education (K-12)
  • Family-School-Community Partnerships

Research Interests

  • How do institutions respond to difference in ways that impact multiply-marginalized disabled youth, particularly girls of color with complex support needs in middle school and high school?
  • How do educators cultivate pedagogy grounded in equity, justice, and liberation for multiply-marginalized youth with complex support needs?
  • How are trusting, reciprocal, and transformative family-school-community partnerships with multiply-marginalized families developed and maintained?

 

Awards

SELECT AWARDS

  • 2023 Awarded, Faculty Community Engagement Scholarship Award, College of Education, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
  • 2023 Awarded, Faculty Research Innovation Award, College of Education, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
     
  • 2022 Nominated, Wayne State University Academy of Scholars’ Junior Faculty Award, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
  • 2022 Nominated, College of Education Faculty Scholarship Award, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
  • 2022 Nominated, Innovations in Research on Equity and Social Justice in Teacher Education Award, Division K, American Educational Research Association
  • 2020 Awarded, Dissertation of the Year, School of Education, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
  • 2020 Awarded, Outstanding Dissertation Award, Disability Studies in Education Special Interest Group, American Educational Research Association 

Grants

IN PROGRESS

2023 – 2024 Co-Principal Investigator. Co-designing disability-centered culturally sustaining pedagogies with community activists and youth scholars. San José State University Multi-Institutional Level Up Grant. ($30,000). Saili Kulkarni, PI; Emily Nusbaum, Co-PI.

SELECT COMPLETED GRANTS

Summer/Fall 2023 Co-Principal Investigator. CyCLE: Collaboratively co-designed literacy experiences. OVPR and College of Education. ($8,000). Christine Hancock, PI; Poonam Arya, Co-PI.

2022 – 2023 Co-Principal Investigator. CyCLE: Collaboratively co-designed literacy experiences. Wayne State University Social Sciences Research Support Program 2022 – OVPR. ($10,000). Christine Hancock, PI; Poonam Arya, Co-PI.

2022 – 2023 Principal Investigator. Project REIMAGINE: Centering the experiences of girls of color with intellectual and developmental disabilities in redesigning and reconstructing educational systems. Wayne State University – University Research Grant Program 2021. ($10,000).

Winter 2022 Principal Investigator. (Re)imagining teacher preparation during a global pandemic using disability-centered culturally sustaining pedagogies. Funded by Michigan Developmental Disabilities Institute (Administration for Community Living – US HHS), Detroit, MI. ($25,000). Saili Kulkarni, Co-PI; Emily Nusbaum, Co-PI.

2021 – 2022 Principal Investigator. In search of freedom, equity, and justice: Black girls dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. Funded by Dismantling the School-to-Prison-Pipeline (DSTOPP) in Detroit Spencer Research-Practice Partnership Grant, Detroit, MI. ($24,600). Ajya Wilson, Youth Researcher; Heaven Bradley, Youth Researcher; Aja Reynolds, Co-PI; Erica Edwards, Collaborator.
 

Presentations

RECENT REFEREED NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Miller, A. L. (accepted). Using sociospatial methods for critical reflection and transformation with general education and special education teachers. Paper presentation at the 2024 AERA Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA.

Mansouri M. C., & Miller, A. L. (2023, November). Contextual considerations: Teachers’ strategies for supporting inclusive practices for students with complex support needs. Paper presentation at the 2023 DADD Annual Conference. Honolulu, HI.

Mansouri M. C., Miller, A. L., Kurth, J. A., & Morningstar, M. E. (2023, November). Promoting inclusive practices: Insights from teacher candidates' agentic moves. Paper presentation at the 2023 TASH Annual Conference. Baltimore, MD.

Mansouri M. C., Kurth, J. A., & Miller, A. L. (2023, November). Equitable access for all: A comprehensive guide to addressing text complexity of grade-level content. Paper presentation at the 2023 TASH Annual Conference. Baltimore, MD.

Kulkarni, S., Miller, A. L., Nusbaum, E. A., Pearson, H., & Brown, L. X. Z. (2023, April). Toward disability-centered culturally sustaining pedagogies in teacher education. AERA 2023 symposium presentation Division K: Teaching and Teacher Education on Challenging Dysconscious Ableism (Organizers: Molly Siuty & Margaret Beneke).

Miller, A. L., Mansouri, M. K., Ruhter, L. C., Andreoli, M., Kurth, J. A., & Morningstar, M. E. (2023, April). How the interconnectedness of systemic ableism and teacher candidates’ agentic moves shape inclusive education. AERA 2023 paper presentation Disability Studies in Education Special Interest Group.

Miller, A. L., Nusbaum, E. A., & Kulkarni, S. (2023, April). (Re)centering knowledge: Teacher candidates learning from disabled activists and community scholars of color. AERA 2023 paper presentation Division K: In-Service Teacher Knowledge and Learning.

Wilson, A. L., Bradley, H. L., Reynolds, A., D., Edwards, E. B., & Miller, A. L. (2023, April). Black girl led research: Centering Black girls in transforming schools. AERA 2023 paper presentation Critical Educators for Social Justice Special Interest Group.

Wilson, A. L., Bradley, H. L., Reynolds, A., D., Edwards, E. B., & Miller, A. L. (2022, May). Black girls shape the research world. Paper presentation at the 2022 International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Annual Meeting.

Miller, A. L. (2022, April). Beyond talk: Reimagining education for disabled girls of color through an intersectional discursive lens. Paper presentation at the 2022 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting.

Miller, A. L., & Pearson, H. (2022, April). The methodological possibilities of photovoice and mapping grounded in an intersectional sociospatial lens. Division G symposium presentation at the 2022 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting.

RECENT INVITED REFEREED NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Miller, A. L., Best, M., & Nellis, T. (2023, November). Collaborating with people with disabilities in research and teaching. Invited panel presentation at the 2023 TASH Annual Conference. Baltimore, MD.

Kulkarni, S. S., Miller, A. L., & Nusbaum, E. A. (2022, April). (Re)imagining teacher preparation during a global pandemic using disability-centered culturally sustaining pedagogies. Invited speaker session for Division K at the 2022 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting.

RECENT CONFERENCE CHAIR AND DISCUSSANT

Miller, A. L. (accepted). Access is justice: A call for intentional and expansive conference access. Symposium Discussant for Disability Studies in Education Special Interest Group at the 2024 AERA Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA.
 

Featured publications

(Re)centering the Knowledge of Disabled Activists, Poverty Scholars, and Community Scholars of Color to Transform Education

Brown, L. X. Z., Dickens, B., Gray-Garcia, T., Kulkarni, S. S., McLeod, L., Miller, A. L., Nusbaum, E. A., & Pearson, H. (2023). (Re)centering the knowledge of disabled activists, poverty scholars, and community scholars of color to transform education. Disability Studies Quarterly special issue titled “Origins, objects, orientations: Towards a racial history of disability,” 43(1).

Keywords

Disabled activists
Poverty scholars
Community scholars of color
Community-university partnership

This duoethnography weaves the experiences and perspectives of disabled activists, poverty scholars, community scholars of color, and university- based scholars partnering on a teacher preparation professional development project that (re)centers disability and its intersections by (a) reconsidering who creates knowledge, (b) positioning disabled activists, poverty scholars, and community scholars of color as experts with pedagogical authority, and (c) providing opportunities for teacher candidates (current and future teachers) to learn from activists and scholars in accessible, online spaces. The experiences and perspectives of multiply marginalized disabled youth and adults are often ignored and/or discounted in teacher preparation programs. However, one way to re-zone and re-people disability studies in teacher education is by teaching and learning at the intersections of critical race studies and disability studies through cross-coalitional community-university partnerships.

Toward disability-centered, culturally sustaining pedagogies in teacher education

Kulkarni, S. S., Miller, A. L., Nusbaum, E. A., Pearson, H., & Brown, L. X. (2023). Toward disability-centered, culturally sustaining pedagogies in teacher education. Critical Studies in Education, 1-21. 

Keywords

Disability
DisCrit
Culturally sustaining pedagogies
Teacher education
Disabled youth of color

Teacher education in the United States operates within the same politically polarized and tense contexts as schools. Research predominantly relies on the voices and experiences of scholars and professionals, despite the importance of community-engaged pedagogies and learning approaches. Collective work that bridges the roles of scholars and community activists requires a shift in how teacher education is conceptualized for a new generation of intersectionality-focused anti-racist and anti-ableist teachers and teacher educators. Centering the knowledge of disabled activists, poverty scholars, and community scholars in partnership with educational professionals, we introduce Disability Centered Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (DCCSPs), a conceptual framework and pedagogical application integrating Disability Critical Race Theory and culturally sustaining pedagogies in teacher education. We outline the critical need for this theory in teacher education in the United States and globally, opportunities for practical integration, and conclude with future directions.

Intersectionality in U.S. educational research: Visibilizing the historically excluded and under-recognized experiences of disabled girls of color

 Miller, A. L. (2023). Intersectionality in U.S. educational research: Visibilizing the historically excluded and under-recognized experiences of disabled girls of color. Educational Review special issue titled “A re-view of educational inequalities,” Advance online publication.

Keywords

Disabled girls of color
Educational research
Intersectionality
Redesigning schools
Youth perspectives
Intellectual and developmental disabilities

 The experiences of disabled girls of color have historically been ignored within and/or excluded from US educational research and thus, are often unheard and under-recognized. Few scholars use an intersectional lens to examine how inequities impact disabled girls of color. In this call to action to the research community, existing scholarship focused on their lived experiences is reviewed first. Next, the affordances of intersectionality as an axiological, methodological, and theoretical approach to educational research are discussed. As such, scholars, educators, and policymakers can use intersectionality to learn about the types of experiences disabled girls of color are having in school, including what is working and what is not working for them, from their perspectives. Therefore, intersectionality supports a deeper and more complex understanding of how schooling inequities impact students. Moreover, intersectionality supports engagement and transformation wherein scholars, educators, and policymakers act on the suggestions and solutions disabled girls of color bring forth for dismantling unjust educational systems to (re)imagine, (re)design, and (re)construct them. Finally, implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed. In sum, honoring the experiences and perspectives of disabled girls of color has the power to transform schooling.

Grappling with the tensions: Cultivating justice-oriented praxis through collaborative autoethnographic poetry

Miller, A. L., Stinson, C., & Timberlake, M. T. (2023). Grappling with the tensions: Cultivating justice-oriented praxis through collaborative autoethnographic poetry. In D. I. Hernandez-Saca, C. Kramarczuk Voulgarides, & H. Pearson (Eds.), Understanding the boundaries between disability studies and special education through consilience, self-study, and radical love (pp. 235-259). Lexington Books.

Keywords

Cultural historical activity theory
Critical pedagogy
Collaborative autoethnography

Reconceptualizing education grounded in the multimodal discourses of girls of color labeled with significant cognitive disabilities

Miller, A. L. (2022). Reconceptualizing education grounded in the multimodal discourses of girls of color labeled with significant cognitive disabilities. Special section titled “Diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 47(3), 158-175.

Keywords

Girls of color labeled with significant cognitive disabilities
Multimodal discourses
Disability critical race theory (DisCrit)
Critical discourse theory
Reimagining education

The experiences of girls of color labeled with significant cognitive disabilities in middle school and high school have historically been excluded from educational research. This study sought to better understand how girls of color labeled with significant cognitive disabilities navigated multimodal discourses and classroom practices as well as how they were impacted by them. Using Disability Critical Race Theory and critical discourse theory, six students were focal participants and eight educators were secondary participants. Multiple case studies were used with primary (i.e., observations, audio/video recordings) and secondary (i.e., interviews, focus groups) data sources. Findings revealed how focal participants showed their discursive resourcefulness, despite absent communication supports and prioritization of oral/aural communication. Students also repositioned themselves in response to marginalization through talk and actions. Implications for research and practice are discussed. This study underscores the necessity of centering the experiences of girls of color labeled with significant cognitive disabilities in educational research to improve their school experiences.

Perspectives of college students labeled with intellectual disability on the moving in and through phases of transition

Miller, A. L., & Chun, M. (2022). Perspectives of college students labeled with intellectual disability on the moving in and through phases of transition. Disability Studies Quarterly, 42(1).

Keywords

Postsecondary education
Emerging adulthood
Student perspective
Intellectual disability

An increasing number of students labeled with intellectual disability are attending colleges and universities. Yet, their perspectives are underrepresented in the research. Grounded in Disability Studies in Education and Schlossberg's Transition Theory, this study reports on the transitional experiences of two emerging adults labeled with intellectual disability at a large public university with a particular focus on how the participants conceptualized their support systems during the moving in and through stages of transition to university. Three themes are discussed: supports the students brought with them to the university, reciprocal supports with peer mentors, and university-provided supports. As such, the findings contribute to and expand existing scholarship dedicated to the experiences of emerging adults labeled with intellectual disability at postsecondary institutions. Aligning with the research question and blended theoretical framing, implications for practice and research are discussed.

Performing color-evasiveness: A DisCrit analysis of educators’ discourse in the U.S.

Wilt, C. L., Annamma, S. A., Wilmot, J. M., Nyegenye, S. N., Miller, A. L., & Jackson, E. J. (2022). Performing color-evasiveness: A DisCrit analysis of educators’ discourse in the U.S. Teaching and Teacher Education, Advance online publication.

Keywords

DisCrit
Discourse
White educators
Color-blindness
Color-evasive racism

This study explores how an ideology of color-evasive racism (i.e., color evasiveness; Annamma et al., 2017) imbued white educators' discourse surrounding intersectional inequities in schools for Girls of Color in the U.S. Our analysis of interview and focus group data addresses a gap in educational research identifying color-evasive racism in discourse by in-service educators, specifically for white educators making sense of inequities in schools. We draw from Bonilla-Silva's (2018) application of color-blindness to discourse to identify three specific discursive frames that white educators employ, namely 1) centering self, 2) claiming white racial innocence, and 3) employing progressive notions, and the discursive tools within each. This focus on white educators' discourse expands understandings of how color-evasivene racism is employed, (re)producing intersectional inequities in education. Given that each of these educators was nominated because of their strengths working with Girls of Color, we believe this paper's significance captures the complexities of teaching in a system of white supremacy and identifies underlying ideologies animating discourse that can be disrupted through a Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) lens.

(Re)defining their place at the table: Frank discussions by adults with disabilities on contemporary self-advocacy

Miller, A. L., Frye, D., Green, T., Mitchell, C., Garcia, G., Huereña, J., Moore, T., & Turnage, V. (2022). (Re)defining their place at the table: Frank discussions by adults with disabilities on contemporary self-advocacy. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 35(3), 777-788.

Disrupting dominant modes of expression: Illuminating the strengths of two disabled girls of color

Miller, A. L., Nyegenye, S. N, & Mostafa-Shoukry, F. R. (2022). Disrupting dominant modes of expression: Illuminating the strengths and gifts of two disabled girls of color. In S. A. Annamma, B. A. Ferri, & D. J. Connor (Eds.), DisCrit expanded: Inquiries, reverberations & ruptures(pp. 45-61)Teachers College Press.    

Whose parenting is legitimate? School positioning of multiply-marginalized Black families and consequences for Black girls

Love, H. R., Annamma, S. A., & Miller, A. L. (2021). Whose parenting is legitimate? School positioning of multiply-marginalized Black families and consequences for Black girls. In D. E. Hines, M. Boveda, & E. Lindo (Eds.), Racism by another name: Black students, overrepresentation, and the carceral state of special education (pp. 183-203). Information Age Publishing.

Photovoice research with disabled girls of color: Exposing how schools (re)produce inequities through school geographies and learning tools

Miller, A. L., & Kurth, J. A. (2021). Photovoice research with disabled girls of color: Exposing how schools (re)produce inequities through school geographies and learning tools. Disability & Society, 37(8), 1362-1390. 

Keywords

Disabled girls of color
Photovoice
Intersectionality

Across the globe, disabled girls of color have unique school experiences and perspectives. However, they are often left out of educational research. In addition, their experiences are not included in conversations focused on transforming school systems and practices, even though they have solutions for educational equity and justice. Grounded in intersectionality and critical spatial theory, this study expands current understandings of how school systems and practices impact disabled youth of color broadly by considering the distinct intersectional educational trajectories of disabled girls of color in middle and high school in the United States. Through their counter-narratives, photographs, and maps, focal participants revealed how materializations (e.g. school geographies, learning tools) and adult actions impacted their academic and social opportunities at school. This study adds to the current literature with a purposeful focus on the experiences and solutions of disabled girls of color. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Disabled girls of color excavate exclusionary literacy practices and generate promising sociospatial-textual solutions

Miller, A. L. (2020). Disabled girls of color excavate exclusionary literacy practices and generate promising sociospatial-textual solutions. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Advance online publication. 

Disabled girls of color have unique intersectional schooling experiences. Yet, they are underrepresented in educational research, and often unheard. Grounded in Disability Critical Race Theory and sociocultural learning theory, this study expands current understandings of how academic and social opportunities are afforded or constrained in schools for disabled girls of color from their perspectives. Through their narratives, photographs, and maps, focal participants in middle and high school described how social and spatial practices interacted with texts and technologies and in doing so, positively and negatively impacted their literacy opportunities at school. This study adds to the current literature with an intentional focus on the gifts, strengths, and solutions of disabled girls of color. Implications for future research (e.g. conduct- ing student-led photovoice research with disabled girls of color) and generative teacher practices (e.g. using photovoice to learn about student experiences and make pedagogical changes) are discussed.

Teacher agency for inclusive education: An international scoping review

Miller, A. L., Wilt, C. L., Allcock, H., Kurth, J. A., Morningstar, M. E., & Ruppar, A. L. (2020). Teacher agency for inclusive education: An international scoping review. International Journal of Inclusive Education, Advance online publication. 

Inclusive education is contextualised within local systems and represents a continuous struggle to ensure access to meaningful and equitable education. The purpose of this scoping review was to examine international empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals from 1999 to 2019 focused on teacher agency for inclusive education for students with disabilities in grades K-12. The conceptual framework used for this research identified teacher agency for inclusive schooling as requiring a disruption of traditional special educator identities, particularly pertaining to segregated schooling practices and deficit notions of disability. Eleven articles met the inclusion criteria. The results revealed varied conceptualizations of how teacher agency promotes inclusive education. We identified the following themes related to teachers’ agentic actions towards inclusive education: (a) instructional strategies, (b) collaboration, (c) family-school-community connections, and (d) other agentic moves. Implications for future research are discussed.

Publications

SELECT REFEREED JOURNAL ARTICLES (since 2022)

Brown, L. X. Z., Dickens, B., Gray-Garcia, T., Kulkarni, S. S., McLeod, L., Miller, A. L., Nusbaum, E. A., & Pearson, H. (2023). (Re)centering the knowledge of disabled activists, poverty scholars, and community scholars of color to transform education. Disability Studies Quarterly special issue titled “Origins, objects, orientations: Towards a racial history of disability,” 43(1), https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v43i1.9693 

Kulkarni, S. S., Miller, A. L., Nusbaum, E. A., Pearson, H., & Brown, L. X. (2023). Toward disability-centered, culturally sustaining pedagogies in teacher education. Critical Studies in Education, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2023.2234952 

Miller, A. L. (2023). Intersectionality in U.S. educational research: Visibilizing the historically excluded and under-recognized experiences of disabled girls of color. Educational Review special issue titled “A re-view of educational inequalities,” Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2022.2163377

Miller, A. L. (2022). Reconceptualizing education grounded in the multimodal discourses of girls of color labeled with significant cognitive disabilities. Special section titled “Diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 47(3), 158-175. https://doi.org/10.1177/15407969221119848

Miller, A. L., & Chun, M. (2022). Perspectives of college students labeled with intellectual disability on the moving in and through phases of transition. Disability Studies Quarterly, 42(1).

Wilt, C. L., Annamma, S. A., Wilmot, J. M., Nyegenye, S. N., Miller, A. L., & Jackson, E. J. (2022). Performing color-evasiveness: A DisCrit analysis of educators’ discourse in the U.S. Teaching and Teacher Education, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103761 

Miller, A. L., Frye, D., Green, T., Mitchell, C., Garcia, G., Huereña, J., Moore, T., & Turnage, V. (2022). (Re)defining their place at the table: Frank discussions by adults with disabilities on contemporary self-advocacy. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 35(3), 777-788. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12981

SELECT BOOK CHAPTERS (since 2022)

Miller, A. L. (in press October 2023). Excavating solutions to sociospatial-textual injustices with girls of color with disabilities in middle school and high school in the United States. In K. Bishop & K. Dimoulias (Eds.), The Routledge handbook on the influence of the built environment on diverse childhoods.

Mostafa-Shoukry, R., & Miller, A. L. (accepted July 2023). Disability justice and education in U.S. contexts. Invited chapter for Encyclopedia of social justice in education (sub-section focused on Political and Social Movements). Bloomsbury Publishers.

Pearson, H. & Miller, A. L. (in press September 2022). Critical disability studies and critical spatial studies as method. In Pasque, P. A. (Section Ed.). Critical qualitative research and social justice. In J. Salvo & J. Ulmer (Eds.), Routledge resources online (formerly: Routledge encyclopedia of qualitative methods). Routledge. [Invited and Peer Reviewed]

Miller, A. L. (accepted January 2022). Girls of color with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Invited chapter for Encyclopedia of social justice in education (sub-section focused on Bodies and Abilities). Bloomsbury Publishers.

Miller, A. L., Stinson, C., & Timberlake, M. T. (2023). Grappling with the tensions: Cultivating justice-oriented praxis through collaborative autoethnographic poetry. In D. I. Hernandez-Saca, C. Kramarczuk Voulgarides, & H. Pearson (Eds.), Understanding the boundaries between disability studies and special education through consilience, self-study, and radical love (pp. 235-259). Lexington Books.

Miller, A. L., Nyegenye, S. N, & Mostafa-Shoukry, F. R. (2022). Disrupting dominant modes of expression: Illuminating the strengths and gifts of two disabled girls of color. In S. A. Annamma, B. A. Ferri, & D. J. Connor (Eds.), DisCrit expanded: Inquiries, reverberations & ruptures (pp. 45-61). Teachers College Press.
 

Courses taught by Amanda L. Miller

Fall Term 2024 (future)

Winter Term 2024 (current)

Fall Term 2023

Winter Term 2023

Fall Term 2022

Spring-Summer Term 2022

Winter Term 2022

Recent university news spotlights

← Return to listing