All teenagers take risks as a normal part of growing up. Risk-taking is the tool an adolescent uses to define and develop his or her identity, and healthy risk-taking is a valuable experience. Healthy adolescent risk-taking behaviors which tend to have a positive impact on an adolescent's development can include participation in sports, the…

Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is a framework by which all educational decisions are made in order to produce a safe, civil, and productive learning environment. The goal of PBS is to improve school climate through a range of systemic and individualized strategies that are offered to students and teachers, based on their demonstrated level of…

This article reveals the findings of a multiple case study that demonstrates the behavioral strategies implemented by select elementary personnel that work daily with students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The personnel who took part in this study were special education behavioral teachers, special education behavioral…

During the past several years, there have been growing concerns regarding the effectiveness of school discipline policies, as well as their disproportionate impact on African American and Latino students. For at least a decade, questions have been raised about district-level "zero tolerance" policies that have contributed to larger…

Differentiated instruction denotes varying instruction in terms of content, product, and process to meet the needs of all learners. One way to differentiate the instructional process is to provide multi-tiered instruction. Examples of systematic approaches to multi-tiered instruction are response to intervention (RTI) and school-wide positive…

Response to Intervention (RtI) offers a comprehensive model for the prevention of delays in learning and behavior. While this problem-solving framework was initially designed for application within Kindergarten to 12th grade programs, there is substantial research that supports the value of the model for application within early childhood…

This supplemental report examines AISD parent survey responses by student ethnicity. A separate full report on AISD parent survey results also was published. [For the full report, see ED628083.]

Roughly 54 million people with disabilities live in the U.S., and there are many more millions of people with disabilities around the world. Not surprisingly, differences among and between people with disabilities are often as notable as differences between people with and without disabilities. While the lack of homogeneity among people with…

Providing high-quality education in juvenile justice secure care settings presents unique challenges for the administrators, teachers, and staff who are responsible for the education, rehabilitation, and welfare of youths committed to their care. The United States departments of Education (ED) and Justice (DOJ) recognize that while these…

Many public schools currently have organizational structures that form barriers for dealing more effectively with students' challenging behaviors even though positive school-wide approaches exist and provide empirical support for their use. Nevertheless, resistance to change occurs at both institutional and individual levels. Improving student…

The following article examines how behavioral interventions used in the general education classroom effect students with autism. The number of students with autism has increased significantly in the past 10 years. Teachers are now faced with providing instruction in inclusive settings within the general education classroom environment. Teachers…

Each year, AISD uses a survey to measure campus staff perceptions of their work environment. This district report shows longitudinal trends in campus climate from 2007-2008 through 2009-2010.

This district report summarizes results from the 2006-2007 through 2008-2009 Austin Independent School District (AISD) staff climate surveys.

The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD) was assigned the task of compiling, analyzing, and summarizing the data for Indicator 1--Graduation--from the FFY 2010 Annual Performance Reports (APRs) and amended State Performance Plans (SPPs), which were submitted by states to the Office of Special Education…

Austin Independent School District used $16 million in federal funds to support 25 ARRA IDEA projects to reduce the student academic achievement gap, reduce disproportionality, reduce dropout, improve district processes, improve teacher quality, and evaluate programs.