Srikala Naraian

Srikala Naraian is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University and program director of the Elementary and Secondary Inclusive Education Programs. After many years of teaching as an itinerant teacher of students with visual impairments and blindness in public schools, mostly in the midwestern U.S., she received her PhD in Education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She locates herself in the disability studies tradition and is interested in investigating processes of inclusive education, teacher preparation for inclusive education, and the education of students with significant disabilities. Her research is centered on inclusive practices within schools; she draws on the experiences of educators, students, and families to investigate the production of inclusive classroom communities.

Additionally, Naraian has offered professional development to teachers in New York City schools on inclusive practices with a particular focus on strengthening family–school relations. She has prepared teachers for inclusive education in international contexts, particularly in Iceland and in India. She served as a Fulbright Specialist in Inclusive Education at Ravenshaw University, Odisha, India. She is presently a Guest Professor at the University of Iceland, where she co-teaches a course on autism. Her current projects include working collaboratively with a nonprofit agency in New York City, Parents for Inclusive Education, to document the initiatives taken by school leaders within New York City schools to support the inclusion of students with disabilities. She has published widely in many journals, including International Journal of Inclusive Education, Teachers College Record, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Curriculum Inquiry, and Teacher Education and Special Education.