Students with low-incidence disabilities frequently receive less than optimal psychoeducational services because the specialized tests and instructional materials required to meet their idiosyncratic needs often are unavailable due to budget constraints, inadequate training of school personnel, and the difficulty school personnel have keeping…

With nearly a million paraprofessionals working in elementary and secondary schools (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013), ensuring they are well prepared and supported is essential to their and their students' success. Paraprofessionals work closely with classroom teachers to support students from special populations and are typically supervised by…

Developing positive school climates and improving school discipline policies and practices are critical steps to raising academic achievement and supporting student success. However, there is no single formula for doing so. Rather, the growing body of research and best practices in the field should inform locally developed approaches to improving…

Thirteen focus groups with a total of 53 postsecondary students with disabilities and 14 focus groups with a total of 72 personnel from student service offices on campuses nationwide identified access problems encountered by students with disabilities in these offices and potential solutions to these problems. Students shared experiences in which…

As post-school outcomes for diverse students with disabilities continue to fall short of those of their majority-culture peers, there is an increasingly urgent need to increase multicultural competence among transition professionals. This study used a pre-/post-test measure to assess changes in multicultural competence for a statewide group of…

Public schools must make available special education and related services to all IDEA-eligible (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) students with disabilities beginning at age three and through age 18. Services to students, ages 19, 20, and 21, are permissive. That means the decision to serve 19, 20 and 21-year-old students is determined…

Procedures for individualizing inservice for special education personnel are outlined and described. Six steps are pictured in a flow chart and detailed in the test (sample substeps in parentheses): establish organized management (establish agency goals, prepare explicit job descriptions of personnel responsibilities); prepare and administer staff…

This newsletter theme issue focuses on the value of supervision in developing personnel in programs for infants with disabilities and their families. The first article, titled "Learning through Supervision and Mentorship To Support the Development of Infants, Toddlers and Their Families" (Emily Fenichel), is an essay explaining the thinking of the…

This publication describes several national initiatives focusing on the need for cultural pluralism among professionals and support services for parents of young children with disabilities. The publication begins with a discussion of new laws, funding initiatives and programs, and special projects of the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S.…

This document presents the proceedings of a conference on the Comprehensive System of Personnel Development in the field of special education. Keynote presentations include: "Special Education: Leadership for Change--A Social Marketing Perspective" (William A. Smith); remarks by Thomas Hehir addressing the status of special education and…

For inclusion of students with disabilities to work successfully in schools, a sense of community among faculty and students, a shared mission, and the ability to successfully collaborate with others are essential. Activities to promote collegial relationships among faculty should be a part of each inclusion team's plan for implementing inclusion…

Montana's Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) Council reorganized into five regions to address diversity of needs in large geographic areas. Descriptions, needs assessment, regional activities to meet staff development needs, and use of the training-for-trainers model are reported for each region. Results of statewide and regional…

This paper describes how the University of Massachusetts (Boston) developed partnership programs to improve achievement of students with significant disabilities just beginning to participate in a standards-based general curriculum. Fundamental to the effort was development of a 12-credit graduate certificate program focused on adapting the…

This book is the second of four volumes in a directory of more than 1,000 discretionary grants and contracts supported by the Research to Practice Division of the Office of Special Education Programs. This volume focuses on projects concerned with personnel preparation and designed to help address state-identified needs for qualified personnel in…

The goal of the High School/State Incentive Grant (SIG) Staff Development program of the New York City Board of Education in 1992-93 was to increase the knowledge levels and competencies of teachers and paraprofessionals assigned to special education classes, by offering a variety of training options for all eligible personnel. The program was…