Despite recurring arguments over the course of a century, intentional education geared toward the whole child in schools has not occurred (Khalsa & Butzer, 2016; Sabey, 2019). Consequently, children often emerge from high school exhibiting sufficient academic content knowledge applicable towards a successful career path, but lack social…

Paraeducators play an important role in the classroom supporting students and certificated teachers. However, literature on the actual roles of paraeducators has revealed that paraeducators are rarely included in the teaching team (Patterson, 2006). Paraeducators are frequently asked to perform difficult or unpleasant jobs and may not be…

Even though small group instruction is a research-based intervention and has many benefits, researchers have shown that many students are reading below grade level and struggle with mastering reading skills, and this may be due to the ineffectiveness of small-group reading instruction. The problem that was addressed in this study was teachers'…

Despite receiving little to no training in behavior management, paraprofessionals often support young students with or at risk of disruptive behavior disorders in elementary schools. The Behavior Support Coaching for Paraprofessionals (BSC-P) is a new evidence-based data-driven approach for enhancing paraprofessionals' skills in identifying…

This paired-format article describes how one of the authors (Rodriguez) undertook a teacher research study of homework in the urban first-grade classroom in which she was a paraprofessional. Her findings influenced her to broaden her perspective on homework. Her graduate professor (Blumenreich) discusses the challenge of supporting a student to…

The authors examined whether Reading Rescue continues to be an effective literacy intervention and factors that impact its effectiveness. Data were collected on 143 first-grade students, tutored by 104 tutors at 38 schools. There was significant growth on all foundational skills (ps < 0.001) and significant change in proportion of students…

This article reports on 2 experiments in inner-city Baltimore evaluating a computer-assisted tutoring approach, Tutoring With Alphie (TWA), in which 1 paraprofessional can work with up to 6 children at a time. In Study 1, we randomly assigned 14 schools to receive TWA or to continue with whatever approaches they were currently using. Each…

This study employed a newly developed measure, the Social Skills Q-Sort (SSQ), to assess paraprofessionals' and teachers' reports of social skills for children with and without ASD. Paraprofessionals and teachers showed good rater-agreement on the SSQ. ROC curve analyses yielded an excellent profile of sensitivity and specificity for…

We now have an evidence base that documents that we could teach every child to read by the end of first grade. However, most schools have almost none of the key aspects of instruction that have been available in the research to ensure we achieve this goal. In this paper I argue that this failure is not the result of inadequate funding but rather…

A disproportionate number of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are below grade level in reading. This trend may be due in part to characteristics of the disability, but it may also reflect lack of access to the instructional conditions needed for success in beginning reading. In this study, we surveyed special education teachers to…

This study seeks to address the current literacy skills, practices, and dispositions of teachers who educate students with significant disabilities. It sought to address two questions including how do teachers who educate students with significant disabilities design and implement literacy instruction, and how do teachers who educate students with…

In many schools in Australia students often begin their primary years with limited preparation for reading. "All hands on deck" are required to ensure the best possible student success rate for learning to read. In this project, Education Assistants, often under-utilised in schools, were used to implement a reading intervention to…

Despite the fact that two of every three students in U.S. schools have reading proficiencies below the level needed to adequately do grade-level work, schools don't make a point of offering either high-quality professional development for kindergarten teachers nor expert tutorial instruction for at-risk kindergartners. This means that most schools…

The purpose of this study was to extend the Great Leaps Reading Program (GLR) knowledge base by combining the fluency intervention of the GLR Program with a comprehension strategy. The participants were 59 first, second, and third grade students who were randomly assigned to one of two treatments. The Treatment group one received the GLR Program…

This guide summarizes "Effective Programs for Struggling Readers: A Best Evidence Synthesis," a research review conducted by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Research and Reform in Education. The purpose of the review was to evaluate the achievement outcomes of alternative approaches for struggling readers in grade K-5: (1) one-to-one…