Historical reasoning, as a disciplinary literacy, aims to develop higher-order thinking in addition to depth of historical knowledge beyond the textbook and memorization of facts. It teaches students to use information across multiple sources to contextualize and corroborate historical accounts, constructing an informed yet critical interpretation…

Spelling instruction is often overlooked by many teachers during reading and language arts. The purpose of this study was to implement a manageable differentiated word study instruction curriculum, drawn from the "Words Their Way (WTW)" curriculum, to determine how it affected students' spelling accuracy and how the participants…

Social Stories™ are a story-based intervention commonly used to teach students with disabilities how to behave in new routines or changing environments, academic skills, and social interactions including tacting others' emotions. According to the National Standards Project, story-based interventions are considered an established treatment.…

The inclusive education of students who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) in Saudi Arabia remains a major challenge because to the lack of the implementation of the Regulations of Special Education program and Institutes of Saudi Arabia (RSEPI). The Ministry of Education (2015) reported that d/Dhh students receive their education currently…

Teacher candidates consistently indicate field experiences are the most impactful aspect of their preparation for teaching. In this study we explored elementary teacher candidates' perceptions of elementary K-6 grade level organization (departmentalized or self-contained) during their teacher preparation field experiences at two universities in…

This study investigated an intervention package that combined Skillstreaming procedures with video modeling for the development of social skills for middle school students identified with and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A multiple probe design across participants was employed to assess the effectiveness of the video modeling intervention…

Students who are hard of hearing in Saudi Arabia are educated full-time in self-contained classrooms. One possible reason that these students have not been included in general education classrooms is related to teachers' attitudes. The present study investigated the attitudes of teachers of students who are hard of hearing and of general education…

Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) children frequently have delayed language; yet limited research exists on interventions to facilitate linguistic development in the classroom (Fung, Chow, & McBride-Chang, 2005). Dialogic reading is an evidence-based practice that has resulted in significantly improved language skills (Towson, Fettig, Fleury,…

Recent trends indicate a move away from self-contained classrooms and toward content-focused departmentalization in elementary schools. This study takes a snapshot of the existing organizational structures used in elementary schools in one district and explores administrators' beliefs and practices regarding this phenomenon. Our findings suggest…

Implementation of social skills deemed appropriate for use in school is important for student success. Students with emotional and behavioral disorders often fail to use these social skills, requiring intervention to facilitate their use. Results related to social skills interventions have been mixed; one suggested reason for this is the lack of…

The authors describe a survey of graduates of a high school program for the academically gifted and argue that such data, both qualitative and quantitative, can add an important element to the evaluation of a program--in this case, a regional Governor's School--especially by using a Comparison group of high-achieving graduates of the same systems'…

This retrospective qualitative study was designed to investigate perceptions of the learning experiences of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)-talented male students who were in a self-contained, single-gender, gifted program in a selective high school in Taiwan. Twenty-four graduates of the high school's gifted program…

This study examined parental involvement as a mediator of the academic performance of middle school students with special needs. The study built on the different types of parental involvement theorized by Epstein and colleagues (2002) and studied empirically by Fan and Chen (2001). Using a specially developed questionnaire, a sample of 82 parents…

Students with challenging behavior severe enough to warrant placement in a self-contained special education classroom statistically have poor school and post-school outcomes compared to typical peers. Teachers in these classrooms often lack sufficient training to meet student needs. This pilot study investigated the use of a telehealth…

Learning to read with comprehension requires that students acquire and integrate an increasingly complex set of skills. Students with severe disabilities are often seen as incapable of mastering and integrating the skills required for reading with fluency and comprehension, a presumption that results in decreased access to comprehensive reading…