Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides

Dr. Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides is Assistant Professor of Special Education at the City University of New York (CUNY)—Hunter College. She received her Ph.D. from New York University in Sociology of Education. Her scholarship is interdisciplinary and it spans the fields of special education, disability studies, sociology, educational leadership, and policy and law. She is focused on understanding how schools are both sites of educational opportunity and marginalization for non-dominant students, specifically examining how notions of equity, access, and opportunity are constructed in policy and law; how educational policies and laws impact long standing educational inequities; and how the social, historical, and cultural contexts of schools and the teaching and learning process relate to educational equity. She published her first book with Teachers College Press in 2018 in the Disability, Culture, and Equity Series. The book, entitled, Does Compliance Matter in Special Education: IDEA and the Hidden Inequities of Practice won the Outstanding Publication Award in 2020 by the Disability and Society Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA). As a graduate student she served as Co-PI on a William T. Grant Foundation small grant focused on disability policy, policy compliance, and racial inequity. She also served as the Program Co-Chair for the Disability Studies in Education (DSE) Special Interest Group (SIG) for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) for the 2019 and 2020 annual meetings. She currently serves as the Co-Chair (2021-2023) for the Disability Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) and is the Annual Meeting Awards Committee Chair for the Disability and Society Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA).

• New York University PhD
• Pace University MST
• McGill University BA

• Research Seminar: Issues in Special Education (SPED 707)
• Doctoral Directed Reading Course
• Social, Historical, and Philosophical Foundations of Special Education (SPED 700.5)
• Race, Politics, and Education (URBG 78776; URBS 40330)
• Research on Effective Practice and Curriculum (REPAC) for Students with Disabilities (SPED 801)
• Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students (SPED 704.5)
• Teaching Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Classrooms (SPED 308/703/708)
• Analysis of Major Issues in Contemporary Education Reform (EDF 80400 – 01 )

Educational Policy and Law, Sociology of Education, Disability Studies, Special Education, Social Contexts, Race, Equity

Spotlighted Publications

• Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C. (2022). The promises and pitfalls of mandating racial equity in special education. Phi Delta Kappan, 103(6), 14-20 https://kappanonline.org/racial-equity-special-education-voulgarides/
• Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C., Aylward, A., Tefera, A., Artiles, A. J., Alvarado, S. L., & Noguera, P. (2021). Unpacking the logic of compliance in special education: Contextual influences on discipline racial disparities in suburban schools. Sociology of Education, 94(3), 208-226. 10.1177/00380407211013322
• Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C. (2018) Does Compliance Matter in Special Education? IDEA and the Hidden Inequities of Practice. Teachers College Press. https://www.tcpress.com/does-compliance-matter-in-special-education-9780807759011

Selected Publications

• Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C., Etscheidt, S. L., & Hernández-Saca, D. I. (2023). Educational inequality and the paradox of dis/Ability rights in a schooled society: moving towards an intersectional discursive, material, and emotive approach. Educational Review, 1-18.
• Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C., (2023). Special Education Racial Inequity and the Educational Debt. Urban Education, 00420859231153407
• Tefera, A. A., Artiles, A. J., Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C., Aylward, A., & Alvarado, S. (2023). The aftermath of disproportionality citations: Situating disability-race intersections in historical, spatial, and sociocultural contexts. American Educational Research Journal, 00028312221147007.
• Kramarczuk. Voulgarides, C., Etscheidt, S., & Hernández-Saca, D. (2022). Racial and Dis/Ability Equity-Oriented Educational Leadership Preparation. Journal of Special Education Preparation, 2(3), 20-30.
• Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C. & Aylward A. (2022). Enduring Equity Questions: A Sequence Analysis of Citations in Response to Racial Inequity via the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 10442073221114102
• Strassfeld, N. & Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C. (2022) “School Districts, Evolving Liability Standards, and Special Education Waivers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Journal of Disability, Law, and Policy in Education.https://jdlpe.scholasticahq.com/article/34262-federal-oversight-district-compliance-and-idea-waivers-during-the-covid-19-pandemic?auth_token=P06XEXPxTvfsW9rd3CLG
• Aylward, A., Garver, R., Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C., & Hodgson, C. (2022). The Ecosystem of Racial Inequalities in Discipline in Early Childhood Education. Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education, 6(1), 3
• Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C. “Bookshelf: Kappan authors on their favorite reads.” Kappan. (2022): 67-68.
• Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C. (2021). Equity, parental/caregiver ‘Power,’ and disability policy in the U.S. Context” International Journal of Inclusive Education 10.1080/13603116.2021.1937345
• Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C. & Barrio, B. (2021) “The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the equity imperative: Examining early childhood transitions to special education” (Multiple Voices for Ethnically Diverse Exceptional Learners)
• Ahram, R., Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C., & Cruz, R. (2021) Looking outside and in: A framework for understanding special education disproportionality. Review of Research in Education Volume 45., pp 311-345. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X20985069
• Aylward, A., Barrio, B., & Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C., (2021) “Rural Contexts and Racial Inequity in Special Education” (Rural Sociology)
• Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C., Fergus, E., & King Thorius, K. A. (2017). Pursuing Equity: Disproportionality in Special Education and the Reframing of Technical Solutions to Address Systemic Inequities. Review of Research in Education, 41(1), 61-87.
• Voulgarides, C. K., & Tefera, A. (2017). Reframing the racialization of disabilities in policy. Theory Into Practice, 56(3), 161-168.
• Tefera, A., & Kramarczuk Voulgarides, C. (2016). Is educational policy alleviating or perpetuating the racialization of disabilities? An examination of “big-p” and “little-p” policies. Teachers College Record (Yearbook), 118(14).
• Voulgarides, C. K., Zwerger, N., & Noguera, P. (2013). Identifying the root causes of disproportionality. New York, NY: Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools

Selected Grants

• Spencer Foundation Conference Grant (2022-2023)  “Envisioning an Interdisciplinary Future for Special Education and Gifted Racial Equity Research.” Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides (PI), Maria Cioe-Pena (Co-PI), Rachel Elizabeth Fish (Co-PI). ($49,905.00)
• Education Research Service Project (ERSP) American Educational Research Association (AERA) (2021-2022, $4,000) Principal Investigator. Boundary Crossing for Praxis in the Pursuit of Special Education Racial Equity in Disciplinary Outcomes
• PSC-CUNY Research Award Program Enhanced Award Cycle 52 (2021; $ $11,969.50) Principal Investigator. Does Compliance with Disability Policy Lead to Equity? Policy Compliance and Discipline Disparities in Special Education Outcomes
• PSC-CUNY Research Award Program Traditional B Award Cycle 51 (2020; $6,000) Principal Investigator, Hunter College. Boundary Crossing: Addressing Racial Inequities in Special Education Through a Research to Practice Partnership
• William T. Grant Foundation (2014; $23,470) Co- Principal Investigator with Dr. Alfredo Artiles, Dr. Adai Tefera, Dr. Pedro Noguero. Paradoxes and Inequities in Special Education and the Law.