This column introduces issues in research and practice concerned with assistive technology for students with disabilities including delays in transferring research findings into practice and ways to integrate what is known about research, effective practice, teacher professional development, and change. (Contains 14 references.) (DB)

Analysis of responses of 137 members of the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Career Development revealed a continuing need to investigate issues in inter- and intragency cooperation and to establish data-based instructional procedures for use in the learning environment. Respondents did not significantly differentiate the areas that…

This article by a recipient of the Council for Exceptional Children's Research Award presents the author's perspective of research as detective work, starting from the investigation of dyslexia, and progressing to such topics as the design of secondary education for students with learning disabilities, dropouts, classroom and instructional…

This article describes the usefulness of a scientific approach to improving knowledge and practice in special education. Of four approaches to knowledge (superstition, folklore, craft, and science), craft and science are supported and implications for special education drawn including the need to bridge the gulf between research knowledge and…

The effectiveness of product development as a component of technical assistance services offered to demonstration projects is examined. It is concluded that written documents produced by technical assistance agencies do not appear to have a direct effect on programs delivering services to the handicapped. (Author/LMO)

Congressional education committees will soon reconsider education laws about to expire. The most controversial task is reauthorizing the preschool grants program under the Education of the Handicapped Act. These committees will also restructure the Higher Education Act and the Office of Educational Research and consider a Children's Investment…

The review describes the advance organizer technique and reviews the empirical evidence on the effectiveness of advance organizers with both normal students and students classified as handicapped. Examples of advance organizers include the expository advance organizer, the comparative advance organizer, the graphic advance organizer, and…

This paper addresses issues in the utilization of research by special educators. It urges researchers to do better research and policymakers to make better choices. Criteria for good research-based procedures are offered. Discussion is organized around common frustrations of special educators, strategies for improving the link of research to…

Seven critical statements about special education are shown to actually demonstrate the positive aspects of special education and the importance of linking research and practice. Critical statements address special education as a separate system, as a system that stigmatizes students, as having no effective methods, and as returning few students…

This article considers reasons for the gap between research and practice in special education including the unique separation of the research and practice communities in special and general education, the limited relevance of educational research, the failure to articulate manageable research-validated interventions, and the weak opportunities for…

Discussion of the research-to-practice gap in special education first suggests the Mainstream Assistance Teams effort as an example of this gap. It then suggests reasons for the gap and proposes a model that emphasizes collaboration between researchers and practitioners and nontraditional staff development activities. Lessons learned and…

Offers a six-step campaign to improve education by applying research findings to practice. The steps are: (1) target important visible problems; (2) build a powerful, dedicated coalition with a prominent, credible leader; (3) staff the campaign; (4) assemble the right information; (5) launch the campaign; and (6) implement solutions. (DB)

Interviews Dr. Edwin Martin, president of the Human Resources Center (HRC) of Albertson, New York concerning the success of HRC. Then, the four divisions of HRC are examined separately: Abilities, Inc.; the Human Resources School; the Research and Training Institute; and the Vocational Rehabilitation Services unit. (CT)

This article highlights major points of each of the articles in this special issue on the research to practice gap in special education. It then considers some broader implications, especially the need to foster and establish collegial networks to counter the isolation in which many teachers currently work. (Contains references.) (DB)

This directory contains project profiles and summaries of current and newly expired projects funded under the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Secondary Education and Transition Initiative. Most of the information is based on a 1993 survey of project directors and project competition data. The compendium is divided into…