Dr. Kathleen King Thorius, Dr. Endia J. Lindo, Dr. Patricia Martínez-Álvarez, and Dr. Amanda L. Sullivan Named New Editors of CEC’s Exceptional Children Journal

Beginning in July 2023, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) will welcome Dr. Kathleen King Thorius, Dr. Endia J. Lindo, Dr. Patricia Martínez-Álvarez, and Dr. Amanda L. Sullivan as the new editor team for its research-focused journal, Exceptional Children (EC).

All four editors have extensive scholarly and leadership experience across a wide range of professional organizations, including the CEC and its many special interest divisions, and are recognized leaders in their respective areas of focus.

The new editors share their deep respect for the journal's legacy and previous editors and note:

We will continue to ensure that EC addresses critical issues affecting children, youth, and adults with disabilities across educational settings by situating responsive, high-quality education as an issue of educational justice and emphasizing the equity-oriented foundations and ongoing commitments of the special education field. We will elicit high-quality research from scholars with strong interdisciplinary and diverse methodological perspectives, in recognition that the field of special education is first and foremost an educational and social discipline. Our vision as editors and the mission of CEC can inform the future of EC in ways that take a purposeful stance in extending the journal’s current aim to publish “reports of research and analyses that examine and advance education and development of infants, toddlers, children, youth, and adults with exceptionalities.”  Accordingly, we have gleaned from EC scholarship several key issues impacting special education and the education of children with disabilities to inform four interconnected goals for our editorship: (1) Situate special education as a civil rights issue, (2) Cultivate increased diversity and inclusiveness in the publication process, (3) Expand theoretical and methodological diversity, and (4) Attend to the intersectionality of student’s identity.

Dr. King Thorius is an internationally recognized expert in culturally responsive and sustaining education, special and inclusive education, equity considerations in multi-tiered systems of support, and race and disability equity-oriented professional development. She is currently Executive Director, Great Lakes Equity Center, Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center; Associate Professor, Indiana University School of Education IUPUI; and Editor, Multiple Voices: Disability, Race, and Language Intersections in Special Education.

Dr. Lindo focuses on improving the reading outcomes of struggling readers and students with learning disabilities. She is especially focused on examining the implementation and enhancing school and community-based interventions, as well as  increasing the teaching and cultural competence of educators and other professionals serving students. She is currently Associate Professor of Special Education and ANSERS Institute Faculty at Texas Christian University. Dr. Lindo is also CEC’s Project 20/20 chair and past president of the Division of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners (DDEL).

Dr. Martínez-Álvarez’s research interests focus on the intersection of bilingualism/biculturalism and critical disability studies. A long time inclusive bilingual education teacher, Dr. Martínez-Álvarez’s work aims at ensuring that children with and without disabilities can learn in bilingual education programs. She is currently Associate Professor of Bilingual/Bicultural Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

Dr. Sullivan is a nationally recognized scholar whose research focuses on identifying education and health disparities among children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, understanding equity in and effectiveness of the educational and health services they receive, and how ethics and law shape practices and students' experiences. Dr. Sullivan is the Birkmaier Educational Leadership Professor and coordinator of the School Psychology Program at the University of Minnesota, as well as Senior Editor for School Psychology Review.

“I am excited for such great leadership at the helm of Exceptional Children.” said CEC President Dr. Andrea Jasper. “These women represent a team of diverse scholars with a wealth of knowledge and expertise that will guide the journal in a direction that seeks to represent the diversity of scholarship that exists in our field. Exceptional Children is the most respected scholarly journal in special education, and I am confident that the incoming editorial team will continue to foster new voices and strengthen the journal..” 

In their application the group emphasized they “will continue to ensure that EC addresses critical issues affecting children, youth, and adults with disabilities across educational settings by situating responsive, high-quality education as an issue of educational justice and emphasizing the equity-oriented foundations and ongoing commitments of the special education field.” 

The selection follows an 8-month search and review process of several well-qualified editor teams. 

The team starts their tenure in July 2023 and succeeds Dr. William Therrien and Dr. John Llyod who have served as Editors of EC since 2015. “On behalf of the CEC Board of Directors, I would like to thank Drs. William Therrien and John Llyod for their service in support of Exceptional Children.,” Jasper said.