About Us
We pursue an education system in which marginalized families feel empowered and prepared to advocate for their child's federally guaranteed rights.
EDquity at the Margins is a Tennessee nonprofit corporation and an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) public charity, EIN 42-2295582. Every service we provide to families is free, funded by donations and by our paid work with schools and school systems.
Our Mission
EDquity at the Margins exists to demystify the special education system for marginalized families. We translate institutional special education practices into plain language so families can engage with schools as true, empowered partners. We provide direct advocacy, education, and support to ensure children receive the Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) they are legally guaranteed.
Our Vision
We work toward a public education system where a family's race, income, or language does not determine the quality of special education services their child receives, where every IEP table functions as a space of genuine collaboration, and where the law means what it says for every child it covers.
From the Founder
"I want every child to have a 'ME' fighting for them."
Dr. Reba Clarke-Wedderburn
Founder & Executive Director, EDquity at the Margins
Founder
Dr. Reba Clarke-Wedderburn
Dr. Clarke-Wedderburn is an instructional coach, curriculum developer, and educator preparation specialist with 21 years of experience across K-12 teaching, instructional coaching, and higher education. She designs and facilitates graduate-level special education licensure coursework, coaches pre-service and in-service teachers through competency-based development, and builds standards-aligned curriculum grounded in equity, disability advocacy, and special education policy.
She holds a Doctor of Education in Learning Organizations and Strategic Change from Lipscomb University, a Master of Science in Instructional Leadership from Union University, and a Bachelor of Science in Exceptional Education from Florida Atlantic University. She is the author of the F.L.O.W. equity-centered coaching framework.
Her certifications include Tennessee K-6 Elementary Education, Tennessee K-12 Special Education, and Tennessee Educational Administration. She has held roles at LEAD Public Schools, TNTP, Western Governors University, and the Nashville Teacher Residency. She currently serves as Program Specialist at Diverse Learners Cooperative.
Download Full CVThe Gap We Disrupt
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) established parents as equal partners in the IEP process, a mandate grounded in decades of research showing that family participation improves educational outcomes for children with disabilities. That mandate, however, has never been evenly enforced.
School districts arrive at IEP meetings with teams of professionals, evaluators, and administrators whose command of specialized terminology and procedural rules creates a structural disadvantage for families who lack equivalent training. For families of color, economically disadvantaged families, and non-native English speakers, that disadvantage is compounded by documented patterns of racial and economic disparity in special education identification, placement, and service delivery.
EDquity at the Margins addresses that gap directly. Parents hold knowledge about their children that no evaluation instrument can replicate, and our work translates that knowledge into legally binding educational plans through technical coaching, document analysis, and sustained advocacy support.