There is often confusion about the terms used to label or describe a reading problem. Clinicians and researchers use different terminology than the schools. For example, medical professionals, psychologists, and other practitioners outside of the school often use the term "dyslexia," "reading disorder," and "specific…

The purpose of this article is to discuss major substantive errors that school personnel may make when developing students' Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). School IEP team members need to understand the importance of the procedural and substantive requirements of the IEP, have an awareness of the five serious substantive errors that IEP…

Special educators are required to collect data on student progress and use it as formative data to inform instructional decisions. Being told to collect student data without being shown how to effectively and efficiently collect it, may cause teachers to become overwhelmed. This article provides three easy-to-use templates to facilitate quick data…

The article reflects on current methods of teacher evaluation within the context of recent accountability policy, specifically No Child Left Behind. An overview is given of the most common forms of teacher evaluation, including performance evaluations, checklists, peer review, portfolios, the CEC and InTASC standards, the Charlotte Danielson…

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004), aligned with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), emphasizes improved student academic outcomes. With this focus on academic outcomes and access to the general curriculum, there is increased pressure for accountability in the education of students with disabilities in general…

Educators, students, and families face many challenges in responding to the testing mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA), including providing students with disabilities with individualized, approved, valid, effective, and acceptable testing…

With the last reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, also known as No Child Left Behind or NCLB), special education research exerted a major influence on general education. Even so, the academic outcomes of students with learning disabilities (LD), who are the…

This article presents questions regarding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) regulations and the No Child Left Behind Act. The author's answers to these questions are presented.