Teachers are often master students who thrive in structured school settings; however, not everyone learns well in school. There is a great responsibility for adults in schools to support students as thriving learners. What barriers are there to student learning? What changes are needed to nurture learning? How can we best learn alongside others?…

This article focuses on the extent to which a portfolio may address the challenges of assessment for quality learning in professional education programmes. A four-year action research study investigated the development and implementation of a portfolio for the assessment of practice in a professional development programme preparing special…

Co-teaching--or the use of more than one teacher in a classroom--has been commonly recommended as a means to promote inclusive education. The aim of the present study was to survey the actual frequency of co-teaching among different teacher categories in the comprehensive school level in one Finnish city. The data were collected through a…

The Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is administered by the Montana Office of Public Instruction every two years to students in grades 7 through 12. The purpose of the survey is to help monitor the prevalence of behaviors that not only influence youth health, but also put youth at risk for the most significant health and social problems…

A school improvement program that provided support to poor-performing schools on the basis of needs identified in a school improvement plan was implemented in 72 government schools in Jamaica, from 1998 to 2005. In this independent evaluation of the program, we use propensity score matching to create, post hoc, a control group of schools that were…

Comparison of behavior ratings of resource room (N=3) and regular (N=17) teachers of 29 elementary grade handicapped students found that regular teachers rated students as significantly more maladjusted than did resource room teachers. Correlations between the two sets of ratings were in the moderate range. (Author/DB)

A model for training teachers to deal effectively with gifted children is proposed. Three levels of training are delineated to meet the needs of the classroom teacher, the cluster/resource teacher of the gifted, and the gifted program administrator. Content and program design are outlined. (MSE)

An inservice program for regular class teachers of mainstreamed gifted and talented elementary and secondary students was conducted by resource teachers and involved consultation, workshops, and on-site visits. Evaluation revealed that close support by resource teachers prompted more open-ended and individualized assignments and greater student…

Follow up of special education teachers (N=27) graduating from a resource/consulting teacher program found that respondents (1) were very satisfied with their training in data-based instruction (DBI) skills, (2) found the skills useful in both direct teaching and consulting teaching, and (3) were promoting the use of DBI. (Author/DB)

The article describes the collaborative process as defined in the special education literature and specific collaborative functions of the teacher of visually handicapped students (such as providing information, obtaining materials, acting as advocate). Finally it provides recommendations for effective consultation in the field. (Author/DB)

The study assessed elementary students' (N=680) preferences concerning special instruction for learning difficulties. Results of student interviews indicated children's preferences for in-class and pull-out services were affected by the service delivery model they experienced though most children preferred to receive additional help from their…

The authors review some of the shortcomings in schools trying to translate mainstreaming theory into practice: lack of a full range of special placement options, over-reliance on consultation and resource teacher programs, and failure to furnish adequate special instruction in regular classrooms. (Author/SJL)

This final report resulted from a 1-year evaluation of three Area Learning Support Teams, intended to provide a flexible and coordinated learning support service in three secondary schools and associated primary schools in one region of Scotland. The study interviewed 26 key people and used questionnaires to elicit opinions of 163 others. Findings…

This study evaluates impact of collaborative efforts of parents and school professionals in the treatment of autism in a five-year-old boy. Method of treatment was discrete trial training across settings (e.g., home and school) and change agents were the child's parents, siblings, special education teacher, resource teacher, and speech…

The report describes first-year activities of Project CABE (Content-Area Bilingual Education) which aims to improve instruction and increase parental involvement for limited-English-proficient Spanish-speaking students with handicapping conditions in grades 4 through 9. During its first year the project served 308 students attending 25 public…