Special educators are urged to use research findings to inform their instruction in order to improve student outcomes. However, it can be difficult to tell whether and how research findings apply to one's own students. In this article, we discuss how special educators can consider the samples and the sampling methods in studies to examine the…

This article identifies and discusses key components of a research-based whole school approach to bullying prevention. Discussion focuses on ways to increase awareness and understanding, characteristics of targets (often students with special needs) and bullies, facts on bullying, and six bullying prevention practices, for example, train targets…

Describes, in 15 articles, the content and findings of the vocational rehabilitation core area of Project PREP (Programmatic Research on Employment Preparation). Presents the conceptual framework developed from research and addresses two themes: career services and management implications for a career-oriented program. (RC)

Reports on the initial results of a four-year longitudinal study of the model used by the Juniper Gardens Children's Project, which was designed to make research more trustworthy, useful, and accessible. The successful collaboration between the University of Kansas researchers and eight local inner-city elementary schools in Kansas City is…

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…

The participatory research model used by the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stout is discussed, with a focus on the value added to the research process and relevance of research applications when research is rehabilitation-need based and the research-to-applications process model is used. Information is…

This paper identifies nine lessons learned from five federally funded special education research to practice projects. Four projects are school-university collaborative partnerships and one is local-school- based. Both models stress research-validated practices to improve performance of students with and without disabilities across multiple years.…

This digest summarizes the research on effects of the full-service school model on students with disabilities. In the full-service model, schools house a variety of health care, mental health, and related services for children and their families. Examples are listed of preventive services, early intervention services, and intensive treatments for…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of the Elementary and Middle Schools Technical Assistance Center, which developed and evaluated a technical assistance model using a linking agent approach in which a school district professional or team was trained and supported to implement a change process cycle to effect improved…

Increased demands for colleges and universities to engage in outcomes assessment for accountability purposes have accelerated the need to bridge the gap between higher education practice and the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation. The "Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education" provides higher…

This commentary on a study that found the use of a system of least prompts produced increases in rates of conversations between preschoolers with and without disabilities discusses the benefits of the hierarchical model of intervention that maximizes the usefulness of research to practitioners. (Author/CR)

This document contains 123 papers from an international conference on vocational education and training (VET) for lifelong learning in the information era. The papers focus on the following themes: (1) societal and ethical issues; (2) human resource development and personnel training; (3) international issues; (4) information technology in VET;…