Jean E. Lokerson (1937-2016):
Special education leader and advocate for children with learning disabilities

Nadia Bukach

August 2024

“Dr. Lokerson is another long-time dedicated and active member of LDA [Learning Disabilities Association of America]. She is fearless in speaking on behalf of those with learning disabilities and committed to making certain learning disabilities remain as a separate handicapping condition.” -Dorothy Crawford (2000)

Jean E. Lokerson, Ph.D. was an influential educator who devoted her life to the field of learning disabilities. Lokerson began her career in the 1960s, at a critical moment in the disability rights movement in the US. She became deeply involved in multiple organizations lobbying for improved education for children with learning disabilities, including the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA), the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), the CEC’s Division of Learning Disabilities (DLD), and the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities. She kept abreast of advancements in education research and used her expertise to help teachers and parents lobby for improvements to special education. Jean Lokerson held many leadership positions throughout her career and spent many hours managing behind-the-scenes tasks for the organizations with which she was involved. Her professional projects included developing creative training materials for special education teachers, presenting in classrooms and at conferences about special education topics and policy, and educating parents and the public about how to become involved in advocacy for children with learning disabilities.

Early Life and Education

Jean was born August 4th,1937 and grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland as the oldest of five children. She taught her four younger siblings in what her father called the “Lokerson Family School,” and she often cited this early role as inspiration for her teaching career (“Lokerson, Jean,” 2016). In 1959, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from George Washington University. She spent the next five years teaching in elementary schools in Maryland. She next studied under William M. Cruickshank at Syracuse University, earning her Master’s in Special Education in 1965. She went on to work with Jean Hebeler at the University of Maryland, and graduated in 1970 with a Ph.D. in Special Education (Learning Disabilities Association of America, 2008).

Special Education Landscape

Lokerson began her career during a critical period in the evolution of special education in the United States. In 1954 the Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education overturned separate but equal access to education. Ten years later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in public places and in the workplace. These two legal developments helped to set the stage for the disability rights movement (Yell et al., 1998). 

Alongside these legal developments, two significant ideas entered the political and educational landscape. First, in the 1950s, the social model of disability challenged the binary categories of “normal” and “pathological” and led to the popularization of the idea of mainstreaming. Mainstreaming involves integrating disabled students into general education classrooms rather than educating them in separate special education classes. Second, during President John F. Kennedy’s National Panel on Mental Retardation in 1961, the Scandinavian concept of normalization took root in America. Normalization asserts that all exceptional individuals, no matter what the level and type of disability, should be provided with a living environment and education as close to that of their non-exceptional peers as possible (Winzer, 2009). 

In 1963, the federal government passed Public Law 88-164. Along with its focus on community centers for the intellectually disabled, this act provided funds for training professionals to work with students with disabilities. Over the next decade, parent groups and advocacy groups grew in number and strength. A significant portion of education litigation in this period related to the rights of disabled children in the classroom. In 1975, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children (PL 94-142), the first law to guarantee free special education classes to all students. This legislation also required that special education be provided in the least restrictive environment (Winzer, 2009).

Higher Education Career

Jean Lokerson taught at several institutions before accepting a permanent position at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). From 1970 to 1972, she taught at Southern Connecticut University; from 1972 to 1974 she taught at Northern Illinois University; and during the summer of 1975 at Indiana University (Lokerson, n.d.). She was a full-time faculty member at VCU from 1974 until her retirement in 1996. From 1981 to 1983 she served as the coordinator for VCU’s Reading and Child Study Center. After her retirement, she continued to teach at VCU as an associate professor emerita (Lokerson, n.d.). 

Lokerson was at the forefront of education for special education teachers. She developed practical tools and techniques as well as diagnostic measures for the classroom, and then taught special education teachers in their implementation and application. Through her ongoing involvement with the many advocacy groups she volunteered for, she stayed up-to-date on the rapidly changing federal and state policies around learning disabilities and their impact on students and their families. Her diverse projects exemplify the passion and outside-the-box efforts Lokerson brought to the field. For instance, in 1975, she and longtime colleague and friend M. Elise Blankenship, Ed.D directed the film “A place to grow: Programming for young children with sensory-motor handicaps” (Library of Congress Copyright Office, 1975). In 1976 the pair developed an experimental simulation program that modeled individual learning disabilities to help their teachers get a deeper awareness and understanding of their students’ lived experiences (“Simulation Program,” 1976). When Lokerson noticed that existing published special education activities were often too general for use in the classroom, she and Blankenship wrote The teacher’s workshop: Developing visual materials to meet individual needs. This book guided special education teachers through the art of adapting audiovisual materials to the individual needs of their students so that students could realize greater benefit from tailored exercises (Lokerson & Blankenship, 1976).

Dr. Lokerson was a highly regarded presenter at national and international conferences (Learning Disabilities Association of America, 2007). She coordinated the “Table Talk for Teachers” workshops at the annual Learning Disabilities of America Conference with Dr. Blankenship for many years. These workshops, begun in 1989, were designed to help provide ideas to those who work with students with learning disabilities (Reynolds, 2017). 

Her colleagues regarded Lokerson as highly knowledgeable about policy affecting special education teachers. She incorporated materials into her syllabi to keep her students up to date with the rapidly changing special education policies. She also provided handouts about how to get involved in the legislative process and taught guest lectures in VCU classrooms about issues such as the impacts of IDEA reauthorization (Lokerson, 2003).

Organizational Service

Early in her career, Dr. Lokerson became involved in the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities (ACLD), which in 1989 changed its name to the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA). The organization was formed in 1963 after Samuel Kirk introduced the term “learning disabilities” at a conference in Chicago titled “Exploration into the Problems of the Perceptually Handicapped Child.” Kirk defined the learning disabled as a “group of children who have disorders in development in language, speech, reading, and associated communication skills needed for social interaction,” (Winzer, 2009). This term broadened the umbrella to include many children who had historically not been included in special education. The term became highly influential, and although it created some blurriness in categorization, it spurred significant professional interest and growth of research in the field. This parent and educator organization expanded rapidly and over the next decade became a powerful lobby group (Winzer, 2009).

Lokerson held many elected positions in the LDA, including serving on the executive committee, board of directors, and the professional advisory board. She also participated in numerous committees, including Policy and Bylaws, Education, Public Policy, Professional Preparation, and the Annual Conference Program Committee, which she chaired in 1992 and 2007 (Crawford, 2000). She was the associate editor of the LDA’s professional journal from 1989-2013. In addition to these roles at the national level, Dr. Lokerson also served several terms as the President of the local Virginia Chapter of the LDA.

Dr. Lokerson was also deeply involved in the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), another organization that advocates for the rights of disabled children. In 1983, Lokerson helped to found the Division for Learning Disabilities (DLD) within the CEC (Lokerson, 1983), and acted as the DLD’s first secretary. She served as Vice President during the official charter of the DLD, and she later served as President in 1992 (Graves et al., 1992). She also worked in the Advocacy and Public Policy Committee and coordinated the Children and Youth Action Network (CAN) in 2010. CAN brings together special educators from around the country for advocacy and public policy training. It also includes public policy briefings and congressional visits (Lokerson, 2011).

Advocacy

Dr. Lokerson’s commitment to policy change and advocacy extended beyond her work in organizations. She also spent significant time consulting with state and federal governments and engaging parents and teachers locally. She wrote to and met with public officials concerning the important legislation that passed during her professional career, including amendments to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act that would become known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1986, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and IDEA reauthorization in 2004. Her consulting work included working with the U.S. Department of Education to establish programs and policies to serve students with special needs in public and private schools (Learning Disabilities Association of America, 2007).

Lokerson ardently believed in the importance of parent and educator involvement in policy change. In an address to the DLD in 2008, she wrote “Today, many parents and professionals lack the historical perspective to appreciate the value and necessity of continued grassroots advocacy through federal law and its protections… Professionals should partner with parents so that the value of federal law is understood and the dangers of losing various provisions are recognized from a practical perspective” (Rooney, 2008). Lokerson was active in reviewing and editing LDA’s Advocacy Training Kits (Learning Disabilities Association of America, 2002). She regularly shared policy statements from the CEC and LDA with special education teachers and engaged parents. She spoke not just at conferences, but also in the classrooms of her teaching peers and events like elementary school Parent Teacher Associations (“VCU Professor Is P-TA Speaker,” 1975). In 1986, after the passage of IDEA, she and longtime friend and colleague Elise Blankenship ran a hotline with USA Today to give expert advice and discuss concerns about learning disabilities with callers. Lokerson and Blankenship traveled to the USA Today offices in Rosslyn, Virginia, where they and their team of six assistants answered 170 calls from 36 different states (“School of Education Faculty Serve as USA Today Experts,” 1986).

Awards and Retirement

After she retired from VCU in 1996, Lokerson continued to teach as an adjunct professor but dedicated the majority of her time to her leadership roles within the LDA and DLD. She received numerous awards throughout her career, including a Meritorious Accomplishment Award from the VCU School of Education in 1993, an Award of Appreciation for her many years of service within the LDA in 1993, a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Maryland in 1995, a Pioneers Showcase Honoree Award from the CEC, and the LDA Award, the organization’s highest honor, in 2008 (Learning Disabilities Association of America, 2007, 2008; “People in the News,” 1993, 1995; Virginia Commonwealth University, 2024). 

After years of struggling with muscular dystrophy, Jean Lokerson passed away in 2016. Lokerson left $1.75 million to establish the John T. and Dorothy E. Lokerson Endowed Scholarship in Education at the University of Maryland (Hill, 2018). In 2018 and 2023, Elise Blankenship donated a similar sum to VCU to establish the Jean E. Lokerson and M. Elise Blankenship Endowed Scholarship in Education. These two scholarships continue Lokerson and Blankenship’s legacy of support and devotion to teachers in the special education field.

Articles and Media by Jean Lokerson

Graves, A., Landers, M.F., Lokerson, J., Luchow, J., Horvath, B., & Garnett, K. (1992). The DLD competencies for teachers of students with learning disabilities. Division for Learning Disabilities, Council for Exceptional Children.

Graves, A., Landers, M.F., Lokerson, J.E., Luchow, J., & Horvath, M. (1993). The development of a competency list for teachers of students with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 8(3), 188-199.

Lokerson, J.E. (1983). Division for Learning Disabilities, Council for Exceptional Children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 16(6), 380–380. https://doi.org/10.1177/002221948301600621

Lokerson, J.E. (1992). Learning Disabilities (ED352779). ERIC Digest #E516. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED352779 

Lokerson, J.E. (1992). Learning Disabilities: Glossary of Some Important Terms (ED352780). ERIC Digest #E517. https://eric.ed.gov/?q=+learning+strategies&ff1=pubERIC+Publications&id=ED352780 

Lokerson, J.E., & Joynes, A.C. (2006). Reaching & teaching students with learning disabilities. In Gerber, B.L., & Guay, D.M. (Eds.). Reaching and teaching students with special needs through art (pp. 189-205). National Art Education Association.

References

Crawford, D. (2000). Children are our tomorrow: A history of LDA (1963-2000) [manuscript]. Jean Lokerson papers (M 555, Box 3, Folder 9). Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Graves, A., Landers, M.F., Lokerson, J., Luchow, J., Horvath, B., & Garnett, K. (1992). The DLD competencies for teachers of students with learning disabilities. Division for Learning Disabilities, Council for Exceptional Children.

Hill, A. (2018, September 13). “Teacher of Teachers” helps prepare next generation of educators: $1.75m gift to support scholarships in college of education. Maryland Today. https://today.umd.edu/teacher-teachers-helps-prepare-next-generation-educators-0e2fd29b-1caf-447c-a7d9-3563b0217edb

Learning Disabilities Association of America. (2002). Advocacy Training Kit. Jean Lokerson papers (M 555, Box 2, Folder 25). Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Learning Disabilities Association of America. (2007, July). Jean E. Lokerson honored by the Council for Exceptional Children. LDA Newsbriefs, 42(4), 2. https://ldaamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/2007-04_Sept-Oct-2007_LDA-Member-Newsbriefs_Vol42-No4.pdf 

Learning Disabilities Association of America. (2008, March). 2008 awards banquet. LDA Newsbriefs, 43(2), 17–18. https://ldaamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/2008-02_Mar-April-2008_LDA-Member-Newsbriefs_Vol43-No2.pdf 

Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1975). Catalog of copyright entries, third series. Volume 29, parts 3-4, number 1. Dramas and works prepared for oral delivery. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112113401779?urlappend=%3Bseq=1

Lokerson, J.E. (n.d.) Vita. Jean Lokerson papers (M 555, Box 1, Folder 42). Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Lokerson, J.E. & Blankenship, M.E. (1976). The teacher’s workshop: Developing visual materials to meet individual needs. Jean Lokerson papers (M 555, Box 1, Folder 28). Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Jokerson, J.E. (2003). Class materials on Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) reauthorization, August 6, 2003 [folder]. Jean Lokerson papers (M 555, Box 2, Folder 12). Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Lokerson, J.E. (2011, May). Summary based on March 3, 2010 CEC CAN coordinator conference call. Pioneers Press, 22(1), 9. https://cecpd.exceptionalchildren.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/2011%20CEC%20PD%20Newsletter%20Spring.pdf 

Lokerson, J.E. (1983). Division for Learning Disabilities Council for Exceptional Children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 16(8), 507–507. https://doi.org/10.1177/002221948301600821

Lokerson, Jean. (2016, November 13). Richmond Times-Dispatch. Obituaries. https://richmond.com/obituaries/article_6ba4bc3b-6bee-519a-a840-14e7c60ec5cc.html

People in the news. (1993, September 27). VCU Voice, 22(3), 7. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/vcv/99/ 

Reynolds, M. (2017). A tribute to Dr. Jean Lokerson. LDA Today, 4(1). https://ldaamerica.org/lda_today/a-tribute-to-dr-jean-lokerson/ 

Rooney, K.J. (2008). The 2008 DLD showcase: A celebration of 25 years. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 23(4), 194–200. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5826.2008.00279.x

School of Education faculty serve as USA Today experts. (1986, July 16). VCU Today!, 15(12), 6. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/vct/226/ 

Simulation Program. (1976, November 3). Hanover Herald-Progress, 10.

VCU professor is P-TA speaker. (1975, April 14). Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Winzer, M.A. (2009). From integration to inclusion: A history of special education in the 20th century. Gallaudet University Press.

Yell, M.L., Rogers, D., & Rogers, E.L. (1998). The legal history of special education: What a long, strange trip it’s been! Remedial and Special Education, 19(4), 219–228. https://doi.org/10.1177/074193259801900405

For further reading

Giordano, G. (2007). American special education: A history of early political advocacy. P. Lang.

Lanear, J., & Frattura, E. (2007). Getting the stories straight: Allowing different voices to tell an ‘effective history’ of special education law in the United States. Education and the Law, 19(2), 87–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/09539960701547750

Remarks Upon Signing a Bill for the Construction of Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers (JFKWHA-236-002). (1963, October 31). [Digitized Audio]. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkwha-236-002

Winzer, M.A. (2009). From integration to inclusion: A history of special education in the 20th century. Gallaudet University Press.

© Nadia Bukach, 2024.

Nadia Bukach’s research is funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.