JOURNAL OF MAINE EDUCATION
CALL FOR PAPERS
VOLUME XXVII— 2011
Meeting the Needs of All Learners
Everyone today recognizes the importance of education. Gone are the days when education was a luxury reserved for
a few people who could afford or needed it. As schools have cast an ever-widening net, they have become more
inclusive. Educators now try to meet the very diverse needs of all learners.
Legal mandates account for the inclusion of some populations. For example, for almost 40 years the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has mandated that the public school must accommodate the unique needs of
students who qualify—and the categories have increased, e.g. students with autism. Special education is now part of
the very fabric of public education. More recently, thanks to Response to Intervention (RTI), teachers must try to meet
the needs of students before they qualify for special education services as well as others who can not qualify for special
services but for whom traditional instruction seems not to work.
English Language Learners (ELL) and those who are Limited English Proficient (LEP) must have plans to help them
learn English and, regardless of their proficiency with the language, the academic content required for all students.
Some schools must also find a way to educate the children of migrant workers who frequently must move to find
employment. Beyond the legal categories, teachers must find ways to reach students who simply do not –or will not—
learn in traditional classrooms. These efforts take various forms: separate alternative programs and schools; integrated
mathematics; single-sex classes, expeditionary learning, work study, and service-learning projects, to name just a few.
Students also come to school aware and proud of their cultural, gender, sexual orientations, and even sexual identities.
They, too, rightfully expect an education that is supportive, sensitive, and empowering. Life in the 21st century is far
different than it was in the past—and change comes so rapidly that educators know that they must prepare young
people for the jobs and communities of the future and the use of technology and resources that do not exist today.
Despite all these considerations, some students and their families still desire a traditional education: Students enter
schools at the age of five and graduate from high school at the age of eighteen. They expect to have traditional, discrete
courses, to earn credits, and to be ranked. In the face of meeting the needs of all other students, this challenge is often
the most difficult for educators: How can educators meet the diverse needs of all students and still keep school looking
as it always has? Meeting such diverse needs is a tall order. It may even be too tall. Can schools truly be all things to
all people?
The 2011 Journal of Maine Education will explore this challenge. We invite essays (academic or personal), book
reviews, poems, short fiction, and art from a variety of perspectives that describe, analyze, or critique what is
happening in Maine schools to address the needs of diverse learners. What works, what doesn’t, what might work? We
especially invite students to reflect and write on this issue. Please share your views and hopes for Maine education.
Summary of Procedures for Submission
Submissions must be sent electronically in Word of rich text format to JME@colby.edu. Submissions must include (1)
a title page without the author’s name; (2) an author’s page with the author’s name, institutional affiliation, address,
phone number, e-mail address, submission title, and a 100-word abstract that clearly represents the focus of the article
and ties it to the theme; and (3) the manuscript. Manuscripts should be well written and geared toward educational
practitioners. Submissions should be no longer than 2500 words and should be formatted to follow the Sixth Edition
of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
Deadline for receipt of manuscripts is December 1, 2010. Authors will be notified of the Editorial Board’s
decision by February 1, 2011. The issue will be published in late summer 2011.
Please direct QUESTIONS concerning a proposed or submitted manuscript to Karen Kusiak at
Karen.kusiak@colby.edu.