The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ensures that millions of special education students in the United States receive the support and services they need for academic and personal development. Despite legal mandates, conflicting perspectives and inconsistent inclusion policies exist nationwide. The problem addressed in this study…

Successful technology integration takes many forms and performs several functions, but at its core, the integration of technology into a curriculum must feel seamless, be student-centered, and begin with the end goal in mind. The purpose of this study was to explore how the role and function of middle and high school special education teachers…

This narrative study explored the holistic, interconnected challenges that impact special education practitioners in three cross-categorical (CC) special education junior high classrooms in rural Central Illinois. Participants included three junior high school special education teachers, three special education administrators, and three junior…

This paper tells the story of how one school leveraged the expertise of a family to build an equitable collaboration that transformed the educational experiences of Jake, a fifth-grade student with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Personal accounts from 3 teachers, 2 administrators, and a parent illustrate the power of leaning into…

This qualitative descriptive study aimed to understand how veteran special education teachers describe the personal, social, and professional experiences that influenced their motivation and commitment to continue teaching in special education for ten or more years in public schools within the United States. The study draws upon Herzberg's et al.…

Schools are tasked with ensuring that students with disabilities are educated within general education classrooms, alongside non-disabled peers, to the maximum extent possible. This study investigated the influence of classroom placement on academic achievement in reading and mathematics for a group of students with mild learning disabilities, who…

Special education in the United States has been historically problematic for several reasons, and limited research has been conducted to examine the close connection between teachers' experiences in the classroom (both general and special education teachers) and principals' leadership. Teacher perceptions have a great impact on the learning of…

As caseloads for special education teachers continue to rise and as more students with disabilities enter the regular education setting (U.S. Department of Education, 2016), the need for co-teaching, in which a special education teacher and regular education teacher work together in one classroom to meet all students' needs, is significant.…

All students deserve access to a rich and meaningful math curriculum. This book guides middle and high school teachers toward providing all learners -- including neurodiverse students -- with the support necessary to engage in rewarding math content. Students who receive special education services often experience a limited curriculum through…

The United States, in less than 50 years, has gone from legal segregation and exclusion of students with disabilities in schools to an emphasis on inclusion in the least restrictive environments based on individual student needs. The United States has made great strides in the physical inclusion of students with disabilities, but work is still…

For years, policymakers, districts, and scholars have pushed for the inclusion of more Black male teachers in US public schools; however, their even smaller subset--Black male special education teachers--has been ignored, particularly by scholars. The results of this study provide insight into the recruitment and retention of Black male special…

The importance of mathematical problem solving (MPS) has been widely recognized. While there has been significant progress in developing and studying interventions to support teaching and learning MPS for students with disabilities, the research on how to accurately and effectively assess the impact of those interventions has lagged, leaving a gap…

This third of six briefs analyzing data from the U.S. Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), covering the 2020-21 school year, explores the educational settings where students with disabilities spend their time. As was the case in the analysis of the previous CRDC covering the 2018-19 school year, students with disabilities spend more time in…

This final of six briefs analyzing data from the U.S. Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), covering the 2020-21 school year, explores the characteristics of the 176 charter schools with a specific focus on students with disabilities. This group, representing 2.3% of charter schools nationwide, is heavily concentrated in a handful of states and is…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how middle school general and special education teachers in the Northeastern region of the U.S. describe their collaboration in the designing and evaluating of IEP services for students with disabilities. It was not known how middle school general and special education teachers…