This mixed methodology study investigated the affects teacher training, or professional development, have had on the implementation of differentiated instruction in elementary classrooms. The study was conducted in a Southeastern Georgia school district. Data was collected using surveys and interviews. The surveys contained 20 questions and asked…

The reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 set in motion the movement away from the typical Referral/IQ Discrepancy Model of Exceptional Student Education identification toward the Response to Intervention (RtI) model for the identification of students with reading-related learning disabilities. This…

This qualitative case study explored the use of sheltered instruction observation protocol (SIOP) instructional practices to promote the language development and learning of elementary English language learners (ELLs) in an immersion setting in 1st and 2nd grades. The SIOP model was developed for middle school ELLs, and there is scant information…

Schools are required to meet a range of students' learning needs and effective school leadership is needed for the implementation of pedagogical practices responsive to the challenges of increasing student diversity and academic accountability. Literature on differentiated instruction and its constituent elements suggests differentiation results…

Explores central features of implementing the Dalton Plan, a system of individualized instruction, in English schools. Provides historical information on Helen Parkhurst, the creator of the Dalton Plan. Explores the validity of claims that the Dalton Plan provided short-term educational and long-term social effects. (CMK)

Findings of a study in which four elementary general-education teachers commented on the inclusion of students with significant disabilities within general-education classrooms indicated that children with disabilities were described and observed as full classroom members. Difficulties were related to designing and implementing appropriate and…

One purpose of this study was to design a set of procedures for interviewing pupils in order to diagnose mathematical difficulties. A second purpose was to evaluate a manual describing these procedures to preservice elementary teachers, and to determine the relationship of their abilities to use these procedures with scores on mathematics concept…

This study examined reading instruction and grouping practices for students with learning disabilities through interviews with 14 special education teachers and observations of their resource room instruction. Teachers primarily provided whole group reading instruction and little differentiated instruction or materials despite the wide range of…

An in-depth analysis of a school's home-school-community relations program from the perspective of the school's staff and the citizens within its attendance area was conducted. The study was designed to determine the programmatic and nonprogrammatic activities and to examine the existing relationships between: (1) the operating functions, (2) the…

Interviews with a learning disabled student, parent activist, teacher, tutor, and researcher reveal that learning disabilities are neurologically caused, not the result of low motivation or dysfunctional families. A variety of educational practices are explained that accommodate different learning styles of children with learning disabilities. It…

Describes teachers' understanding of individualized instruction by presenting data collected from interviews with seven elementary school instructors. Finds a positive relationship between teachers' understanding of individualized instruction and their moral development as measured by the Defining Issues Test. Provides a number of interpretations…

Presents an interview with the founder and director of the Riley School in Maine in which she discusses the school's educational philosophy and practices, curriculum design, and physical plant design. (BB)

An evaluation of the "Recycling the Community School" program at Alexander Shepherd Elementary School in Washington, D.C. was conducted. The program's major objectives were: (1) initiation of the development of a multi-modal curriculum that focuses on raising of achievement of 80 percent of students in the essential skills as measured by…

In this report, the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) explores the role of coaching in first-year (Cohort 4) America's Choice schools in grades K-8 as it relates to the implementation of readers and writers workshops, referred throughout this report as the literacy workshops. The authors describe the America's Choice coaching…