A wide variety of legislation impacts the jobs of special education teachers in the United States. In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed into law, mandating that states develop standards and report outcomes for all students in the key areas of math and reading. In 2004, the reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education…

With the advancement of healthcare initiatives and legislative mandates, occupational therapists are facing the demand of providing health promotion and prevention services to a variety of populations -- including students in public schools. In addition to these mandates, pioneers in the field of occupational therapy forecasted the importance of…

Purpose: This study documented evidence-based practice (EBP) patterns as reported by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) employed in public schools during 2010-2011. Method: Using an online survey, practioners reported their EBP training experiences, resources available in their workplaces, and the frequency with which they engage in specific EBP…

Professional development is a necessary component of maintaining competency in professional practice. Technology has opened the door to new formats for delivering professional development, in addition to more traditional modes of training. This study compared three professional development formats for improving the quality of standards-based…

This program evaluation study addressed the struggle of local elementary school speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in a school district to provide evidence-based intervention in language for students below grade level as required by the U.S. Department of Education. Recently, Language Lab™ was published to address the needs of oral language…

The 2013 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 49th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The Digest has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977-78, 1983-84, and 1985-86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American…

In response to the current federal initiative to evaluate the impact of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Personnel Preparation program, the authors summarize prior efforts to evaluate the program and identify common themes and gaps in that work. Also, the authors pose issues and questions for those who seek to understand the impact…

Purpose: The present paper is geared to help speech-language pathologists and other members of the school-based teams to become acquainted with the new educational structure and context in schools today as driven by NCLB [No Child Left Behind Act], and thus, be better prepared to meet the needs of CLD [Culturally and Linguistically Diverse]…

With the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act 2004, our nation has an explicit mandate to put reading first. Recognizing the fundamental connection between language and literacy, teachers and speech-language pathologists have become more…

As most special educators endure the periodic legal changes in education and special education, related service providers face the same challenges. These challenges include Inclusion, IDEA 04 regulations, NCLB and curricular related services. This paper presents these challenges and discusses a variety of solutions providing the most appropriate…