The U.S. Department of Education, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, underscores every child's right to integrate, receive support, and fully participate in school life. The problem is that significant disparities exist in reading growth scores between students with disabilities taught in special-education resource settings and…

The 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandated that students with disabilities be educated with their nondisabled peers in the least restrictive environment. In a large urban district elementary school in the U.S. southwest inclusion classrooms were created to address this mandate. The problem for this study was that 3rd to 5th…

Parent involvement in education has long been viewed as a pathway to increased student achievement. Although much research exists with regard to this topic, little examines this relationship specifically for students with disabilities in grades 1-5 despite being required by both the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with…

Although Individual Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) has mandated states to collect and analyze data to determine if special education disproportionality is occurring within the local education agencies (LEAs), student of color continue to be disproportionately represented in special education programs. Historical trend data revealed that…

This study examines the community-wide effects of investments in two early childhood initiatives in North Carolina (Smart Start and More at Four) on the likelihood of a student being placed into special education. We take advantage of variation across North Carolina counties and years in the timing of the introduction and funding levels of the two…

This study examines the community-wide effects of investments in two early childhood initiatives in North Carolina (Smart Start and More at Four) on the likelihood of a student being placed into special education. We take advantage of variation across North Carolina counties and years in the timing of the introduction and funding levels of the two…

When do item adaptations veer from their intent and, instead of increasing access, modify the construct being measured? This study analyzed early elementary student achievement data from a statewide field test containing both standard and adapted science items. Four student groups were included in this analysis: English language learners, students…

This study synthesized intervention studies focusing on instruction to improve fraction skills. Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria: being published in English-language peer-reviewed journals or dissertations between 1975 and 2014, and targeting 3rd- through 12th-grade students struggling to learn mathematics. From the "Common Core…

The 2004 amendment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) required major changes for schools in educating students with disabilities. For teachers, this act brought new challenges to the general education classroom. Guided by the conceptual frameworks of Moustakas and Cresswell, this phenomenological study examined the attitudes…

This study examines the effects of two test modifications--resource guide and read-aloud--on the reading performance of students within the context of a large-scale statewide assessment in Georgia. Schools were both randomly selected and assigned to one of three possible test conditions: resource guide, read-aloud, or standard test condition.…

The purpose of this study was to gather information on experiences of general education teachers concerning inclusion practices for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In this case study third, fourth, and fifth grade general education teachers in a rural Southwest Missouri school district provided the data source to keep a narrowed…

Inclusion of students with disabilities in district-wide and state assessments is mandated by federal regulations, and teachers sometimes play an important role in rating these students' work. In this study, trained teachers rated student proficiency in performance assessments in language arts and mathematics in third, fifth, and ninth grades. The…

This technical report provides an overview of the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA), including a description of the purpose of the NYSAA, the processes utilized to develop and implement the NYSAA program, and Stakeholder involvement in those processes. The purpose of this report is to document the technical aspects of the 2013-14 NYSAA.…

This study is a preliminary examination of the reliability of frequent retrospective teacher behavior ratings. Frequent retrospective behavior ratings are an approach for creating scales that can be used to monitor individual behavioral progress. In this study, the approach is used to progress monitor behavioral individualized education plan goals…

Since the inception of the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1975, an increasing percentage of children between the ages of 3-21 have been identified as students with learning disabilities (LD). Reports from the National Center of Learning Disabilities (2000) have suggested that monitoring of student learning is frequently…