Evidence-based assessment (EBA) requires that investigators employ scientific theories and research findings to guide decisions about what domains to measure, how and when to measure them, and how to make decisions and interpret results. To implement EBA, investigators need high-quality assessment tools along with evidence-based processes. We…

Special education teachers of color are underrepresented in research about attrition and retention, despite evidence of their role in the academic, social, and emotional success of students of color. We used critical quantitative methods and structural equation modeling to investigate the attrition and retention variability between special…

In the current study, we examined the effect of cognitive apprenticeship with contextualized language instruction on students with LD (SWLDs) and English learners' (ELs) ability to compose scientific explanations using a multiple-probe, multiple-baseline single-case design. Six middle school students (three in each subgroup) participated in ten…

Little is known about how the expansion of state pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs affects low-income children with disabilities in Head Start. Using almost 30 years of administrative data of all Head Start programs and a differences-in-differences design, this study tests the possibility that, as state pre-k differentially draws relatively more…

Existing approaches for training paraeducators rely heavily on intensive one-to-one coaching and may not be feasible in practice. In this study, we test a tiered training model in which all paraeducators first received group training, and then coaching was provided only for the subset who did not meet performance criteria after group training.…

Nonacademic skills related to college and career readiness (CCR) have become more prevalent in the literature as proposed conceptual models and frameworks, yet little empirical research exists in their support. We employed latent variable modeling to empirically test a previously proposed six-domain framework of CCR for adolescents with and…

Students with disabilities have been included in state accountability systems for more than a decade; however, only in the past few years have alternate assessments of alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) become stable enough to allow examination of these students' achievement growth. Using data from Oregon's AA-AAS in Reading during the…

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) supports educators with disabilities including faculty, teacher candidates, and teachers in classrooms, schools, and institutions of higher education. Within the CEC membership, members embody a wide range of disabilities including learning, sensory, physical, and emotional areas. CEC recognizes the…

We examined parents' satisfaction with multiple aspects of their children's individualized education programs (IEPs). Parents (n = 142) raising children ages 4 to 8 years old with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reported their satisfaction with four aspects of their children's IEPs: (a) content of the IEP document, (b) services provided, (c)…

Teacher stress and burnout have a detrimental effect on the stability of the teaching workforce. However, the possible consequences of teacher burnout on teaching quality and on student learning outcomes are less clear, especially in special education settings. We applied Maslach and Leiter's (1999) model to understand the direct effects of…

The relationship between basic oral language and early numeracy has been studied extensively, but results hardly include kindergartners' math language, which might mediate this relationship. The aim of this study was to investigate the development of basic language skills--specifically, math language and low early numeracy. Dutch children (4-5…

Promoting self-determination has become a best practice in special education. There remains, however, a paucity of causal evidence for interventions to promote self-determination. This article presents the results of a group-randomized, modified equivalent control group design study of the efficacy of the Self-Determined Learning Model of…

The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with sustainability of school-based interventions and the relative contributions of those factors to predicting sustained implementation of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS). Participants were respondents from 217 schools across 14 U.S. states. Sustainability factors were…

This study investigated the role of educational and socioeconomic factors in explaining differences in national special education coverage. Data were derived from several international and governmental sources, targeting the year 2008 and covering 143 countries. Descriptive statistics revealed huge disparities in access to special education among…

This randomized controlled experiment compared the efficacy of two response-to-intervention (RTI) models--typical RTI and dynamic RTI--and included 34 first-grade classrooms (n = 522 students) across 10 socioeconomically and culturally diverse schools. Typical RTI was designed to follow the two-stage RTI decision rules that wait to assess response…