The purpose of this research was to examine the pedagogical practices that encourage students with severe disabilities' participation in an elementary physical education program through the lens of ableism. Focus group interviews were conducted with elementary students and semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight educators in the…

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)…

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 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…

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…

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…

It is widely assumed that increasing the number of teaching assistants (TAs) in the classroom will be beneficial to children, and this is one important aim of the recently implemented Workforce Agreement. But there are still significant gaps in knowledge about many aspects of their deployment and impact. The Class Size and Pupil-Adult Ratios…