Purpose: As the federal government has retreated from taking a dominant role in encouraging implementation of common K-12 standards, states and districts have moved to fill this education policy vacuum. This study aims to understand how state and district leaders are navigating this new policy environment. Research Methods/Approach: Drawing upon…

Background: Despite experiencing health inequalities, people with intellectual disabilities are under-represented in health research. Previous research has identified barriers but has typically focused on under-recruitment to specific studies. This study aimed to explore care staff's attitudes to health research involving people with intellectual…

To provide a missing piece to the legal foundation of professional development and practice for the individualized education program (IEP) process, the authors report the results of a comprehensive systematic analysis of court decisions specific to IEP-related procedural violations after the 2004 amendments of the Individuals With Disabilities…

In 2008, Brazilian legislators approved a law that added music on a mandatory basis to the basic national school curriculum. Despite the possibilities afforded by this legislation, music educators affirm that many questions remain due to its ambiguity. Given the 2012 deadline for the implementation of this law, there is a need to understand how it…

The purpose of this study was to explore the use of occupation-based terminology in the documentation of school-based occupational therapists. A retrospective qualitative analysis of school-based documents using a priori codes was completed. Analysis included 33 Individual Educational Program (IEP) documents and 118 OT goals. Analyses showed that…

This study explores classroom placement for first year English Language Learner (ELL) students from the perspective of a dual language director and two bilingual education strategists. The study strives to interrogate classroom placement for first year ELL students whose language proficiency level is at beginning level. Through a process of coding…

This narrative study is based on stories told by African American adolescents experiencing homelessness. It offers insights into their lived experiences and describes the challenges faced in negotiating the urban education system. African American youth are disproportionately represented in the adolescent homeless demographic. "Unheard and…

This qualitative research study sought to understand the perspectives of teachers of students with significant cognitive disabilities regarding general education curriculum access. The participants in this study raised many questions about what general education curriculum access is and how it might be realized. This study illuminated the need for…

During the past two decades, scholars, educators, and special interest organizations, including advocacy groups, have critically examined and debated the ethical and legal use of aversive interventions with individuals with disabilities. These interventions comprise a broad spectrum of behavior management techniques including but not at all…

Approximately 2.4 million children receive special education services for specific learning disabilities (SLDs), and school psychologists are key contributors to the SLD eligibility decision-making process. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) enabled local education agencies to use response to intervention (RTI) instead of the…

Meaningful community involvement has been linked to enhancements in student achievement and quality of educational experiences. Assistant principals are positioned to build effective partnerships yet remain understudied in the leadership preparation field. This qualitative study investigated how assistant principals (N = 9) serving historically…

Mandates such as No Child Left Behind (2001) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) shifted the emphasis of instruction to include skills that access the general curriculum for students with moderate to severe intellectual disability. The purpose of this study was to describe changes in literacy instruction of teachers…

Readers readily identify with characters in literature; therefore, educators must be acutely aware of the overt and underlying messages conveyed in Newbery Medal books. In this quantitative content analysis with a qualitative component, the researchers employed nonparametric measurements to examine Newbery Medal books from the 1920s to the 2000s…

Surveying 15 states and 39,837 students, this study examined the extent to which students who took an alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards in the 2010--2011 school year had access to regular education settings and the extent to which that access correlated with expressive communication, use of an augmentative or…

Federal mandates require technology use in the classroom, but not all English language arts (ELA) teachers have implemented technology as an integral part of teaching. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate why ELA teachers in 2 local high schools rarely or never use technology as an instructional tool. The study was…