Summer camp can be a setting for positive youth development, yet more understanding is needed about how camps measure youth development outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp--a medical specialty camp-- using the American Camp Association's Youth Outcomes Battery (YOB) over six years.…

Background: The hiring of persons with disabilities continues to lag relative to the employment outcomes of persons without disabilities. Objective: The goal of this descriptive study was to examine human resources (HR) professionals' perceived needs and development considerations related to the use of a community of practice (CoP) to improve the…

Most students with disabilities participate in state assessments with or without accommodations [based on each student's Individualized Education Program (IEP)]. A small number of students with the most severe or profound intellectual disabilities participate in an alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS). Until…

Over the past decade, there has been an increased emphasis on transition planning for students with exceptional needs. This is in part the result of the mandates contained in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. This increased emphasis has revealed a number of shortcomings with how transition planning is done…

Since the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), there has been a growing focus on improving the quality of programs for children with disabilities and measuring the results/outcomes of those programs. Across the country, IDEA Part C Programs for Infants and Toddlers and IDEA Part B, Section 619 Preschool…

Physical education teachers and the profession are very often marginalized and minimized by administrators, parents, and students. Adapted physical education is no exception. There are several reasons for the lack of value given to teaching students with special needs in physical education, including issues with placement, stigmatization of…

Nationwide, personnel preparation programs are responding to the changing population demographics and its impact on Pre K-12 classrooms. Needs surveys conducted by the Monarch Center over the past ten years have consistently yielded a need for support in redesigning program course and fieldwork components to better prepare their teachers and other…

While the teaching profession has long been committed to the goal of accessibility, the movement toward that goal has proved dismally slow and frustratingly uneven. Consider, for instance, the printed articles and books that so many educators publish. They have not, as yet, taken on the professional responsibility of making sure that all such…

Administrators across the U.S. are collecting and analyzing program and student-specific data to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001), Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004), and state performance plans. Although most states are not required to disaggregate data for students who are visually impaired,…

This review traces the evolution from 1971 to the present of a national technical assistance (TA) program to support the creation, expansion, and improvement of services for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with special needs. From its beginning as a TA resource for demonstration projects, to linking outreach projects' expertise with state…

The present investigation examines the schoolwide applications model (SAM) as a potentially effective school reform model for increasing equity-based inclusive education practices while enhancing student reading and math achievement for all students. A 3-year quasi-experimental comparison group analysis using latent growth modeling (LGM) was used…

Preparing administrators with the capacity to improve instruction for all learners is critical for recruiting and retaining special education teachers. However, recent research points out the need to improve skills of current and future administrators for this role. To address these concerns the special education and administrator preparation…

This article addresses assumptions that currently guide personnel training and technical assistance in organizations providing services to people with disabilities. Implications of a quality improvement perspective are then considered as they apply to new perspectives on roles, on decision-making processes, and on evaluation. (DB)

Describes the Community Mental Health Technology Program at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, which provided large numbers of middle-level technicians to work with the handicapped. The article describes program courses and purpose and the types of jobs technicians are qualified to perform. (CT)

Students with low-incidence disabilities frequently receive less than optimal psychoeducational services because the specialized tests and instructional materials required to meet their idiosyncratic needs often are unavailable due to budget constraints, inadequate training of school personnel, and the difficulty school personnel have keeping…