This editorial addresses issues in the social validity of curriculum content for children with severe disabilities and notes the empirical validation of educational practices over the past 15 years. It also introduces four papers comprising a special feature titled "Meaningful Outcomes for Students with Severe Disabilities." (DB)

This paper reports the status of the Profile of School Excellence (PRO-S/E) after three years use and the results of a second validation study. The PRO-S/E, used in over 20 school districts in six states, is a diagnostic system school districts use to determine strengths and weaknesses based on 11 characteristics of effective schools. Data is…

This paper argues that the National Diffusion Network (NDN) is a valuable tool for disseminating information about effective school improvement programs (SIPs). It considers why SIPs are not found more frequently in the NDN and what can be done to remedy this situation, from the perspective of the executive secretary of the NDN Program…