"Reading Mastery" is designed to provide explicit reading instruction to students in grades pre-K-5. One of several Direct Instruction curricula from McGraw-Hill, "Reading Mastery" is available in two versions: (1) "Reading Mastery Classic" (for grades pre-K-2) aims to help beginning readers identify letter sounds,…

Colleges increasingly rely on the Web to attract, inform, and interact with students. This makes Web site accessibility and usability critical concerns, particularly for public community colleges, which educate sizable numbers of students with disabilities. As committed providers of postsecondary education to students with disabilities and thus a…

The article reviews basic behavioral program evaluation designs, and suggests how they might be effectively integrated into special education programs serving handicapped (and particularly learning disabled) children. It is concluded that the techniques of behavioral design, coupled with the essentials of teaching, enable the special education…

The article describes an evaluation procedure that observes the child's ability to use specific learning strategies. By extending on and manipulating initial responses, the procedures help determine the amount of interaction needed to influence a child's performance and identify the kinds of instructional interactions that exercise control over…

Criticisms of traditional approaches to the assessment of student abilities and instructional program design are reviewed and alternative, dynamic approaches are suggested. A major feature of the suggested approaches is assistance to influence student performance and thus reveal the potential for change. The approaches are categorized and examined…

Several general models for program evaluation are described and criticized. The value of total program evaluation for making more scientifically-based decisions in programing is demonstrated, and agencies offering help in devising evaluation schemes for ongoing learning disabilities programs are recommended. (Author/KW)

Describes the program developed at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, to promote the academic and workplace success and social and emotional adjustment of students with learning disabilities. Presents details of the evaluation planned for this program, emphasizing the importance of flexibility. (SLD)

The article describes the social comparison method of social validation and reports on several studies in which it was used to evaluate interventions with learning disabled (LD) students. Several implications and areas for further study are discussed, relating to the use of the social comparison method in evaluating treatment programs for LD…

The National Research Center on Learning Disabilities (Lawrence, KS) prepared this manual as a tool for implementing Responsiveness to Intervention (RTI). The manual can help schools understand, design, and evaluate the RTI features that they will implement. This RTI Manual is based on current research regarding the features of RTI. While striving…

The monograph considers four issues in behavioral assessment of learning disabled (LD) students: primary assumptions of the behavioral approach, identification of LD students, program planning for identified students, and program evaluation. Among factors examined in the first section are the components of experimental analysis of behavior,…

Five years of research findings on assessment and decision making for learning disabled (LD) students are summarized through 14 generalizations. the generalizations deal with five issues: which students to refer for psychoeducational evaluation; which students to declare eligible for LD services; how to plan specific instructional interventions…

The article lists questions parents can use to evaluate the quality of educational services for children with learning disabilities. Questions are grouped into the following categories: services, agency and staff, residential or special schools, camps. (DB)

Proceedings from the Minnesota Roundtable Conference on Assessment of Learning Disabled children include two major presentations reviewing research and reactions to those presentations from conference participants. J. Ysseldyke's presentation "Psychoeducational Assessment and Decision Making" reviews basic considerations underlying his…

Criterion-referenced tests in a time-series design were found to be the most feasible methodology for evaluating placement in an early intervention program for mildly retarded, learning disabled, and emotionally disturbed children. Advantages included provision of longitudinal data, while the major disadvantage was administration time. (CL)

The paper examines ways to choose appropriate objectives for program evaluation in the education of the handicapped. Section I discusses how too much pressure can distort priorities (alignment of short-term objectives with long-term objectives), and lists six steps in determining priorities. Section II applies the principles to learning disabled…