Although more students with disabilities are attending college than ever before (Dukes & Shaw, 1999; Henderson, 2001), they are much less likely to graduate from college than their peers without disabilities (Horn & Bobbitt, 1999; National Council on Disability, 2003). This lower graduation rate for young adults with disabilities is of great concern given that there is a growing demand for a highly educated workforce and a corresponding decrease in jobs available to those who are not college educated (Kazis et al., 2007). One practice that may facilitate the learning of students with disabilities in postsecondary educational environments is the provision of accommodations. Accommodations are changes in the presentation of instructional or testing materials, changes in (how) students are expected to respond to instructional or testing materials, changes in the scheduling of instruction and/or testing, and changes to the setting in which materials are presented (Thurlow, Ysseldyke, & Silverstein, 1995). Although research directly linking accommodations with success in college among students with disabilities is currently limited, research does suggest that providing accommodations in other educational settings has promoted the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education activities (Olson & Goldstein, 1996; Sireci, Scarpati, & Li, 2005). Rules and procedures for determining which accommodations a student should receive vary considerably from secondary to postsecondary settings. In high school settings, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA; 2004) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973) mandated the provision of accommodations for students with disabilities. In particular, these laws require that students with suspected disabilities be evaluated (although criteria for identification differ depending on the law), and if a student is determined to have a disability and needs special education and related services, then the school must provide a "free and appropriate public education." Under IDEA (2004), students with disabilities must be provided with accommodations that are deemed appropriate by the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team. The IEP must contain "a statement of any individual appropriate accommodations that are necessary to measure the academic achievement and functional performance of the child on State and district-wide assessments" (34 C.F.R. § 300.322). Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, schools are 415098C DE34310.

This article discusses using Madame Bovary in the critical reading classroom. Madame Bovary is one of many texts assigned in Unruly Women and Iron Men, the author’s course introducing first-year students to college-level academic study with emphasis on critical reading and discussion. In the course students examine relationships between men and women at home, in the workplace, and in the media while honing their skills of comprehension, summary, synthesis, and engagement. Semester after semester the author found that Flaubert’s nineteenth-century French work appealed to students, especially to male students, who liked it and talked about it, often without prompting. The article details several pedagogical strategies using Madame Bovary to develop students’ critical reading and help them understand the still very contemporary issues at the heart of Flaubert’s novel.

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