The purpose of this study was to examine the roles of paraeducators in educational teams who supported young children with complex communication needs (CCNs). Participants included members of three teams which included general and special education teachers, paraeducators, speech and language pathologists (SLPs), and parents. An instrumental,…

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…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the relationship between students' physical education fitness norms and academic achievement measures in a suburban elementary school. Does high or low performance on physical fitness tests align with high or low academic achievement from standardized testing? The study sought to determine the…

Educators need effective ways to build the communication skills of students learning to use aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and support their interactions with peers. This study used a multiple-probe-across-participants design to evaluate the effectiveness of a paraprofessional-facilitated peer network intervention to (a)…

A growing body of research has established incremental rehearsal (IR) as an effective intervention for teaching basic skills in various student populations. However, there have been no published studies to date in which interventionists have been school-based personnel rather than researchers. In this study, a paraprofessional implemented IR with…

Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) has witnessed an increase in the number of English learner students in grades K-12 over recent years, with students coming from more diverse backgrounds in race/ethnicity, countries of origin, and native language. This requires more support from the district to meet diverse needs in terms of languages,…

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…

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 guide is designed to facilitate self-studies of planning and implementation of state-required summer reading camp programs for grade 3 students who scored at the lowest level on the state reading assessment. It provides a template for data collection and guiding questions for discussion that may improve instruction and increase the number of…

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…

Paraprofessionals are widely employed in response to intervention (RTI) settings to provide instruction to students at-risk for reading disabilities. However, little research has addressed effective and efficient ways to train these paraprofessionals to deliver instruction with high fidelity. In addition, given the limited time and finances…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of a repeated reading and question generation intervention entitled Re-read-Adapt and Answer-Comprehend (RAAC) with a modified RAAC intervention without the repeated reading component. The sample included 30 students in Grades 3 through 5. The students received services in reading within a…

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…

The purpose to this study was to provide a comprehensive analysis of per pupil expenditures at a specific school site. The objectives were threefold. The first objective was to determine per pupil expenditures, the second question was to determine variations in expenditures on a per student basis and finally, the third question in the study was to…