For decades, there have been competing visions of how and where to educate students with disabilities (SWDs) in America's K-12 schools. One conception is that general classrooms can accommodate the learning needs of virtually all children. A second approach calls for multiple placement options. Over the years, the context in which this…

Graduates of special education teacher education programs can teach in a range of special education settings, raising the potential that their training can occur in very different settings than where they find their first jobs. We follow 263 completers of Moderate Disabilities programs in the U.S. state of Massachusetts from their field placements…

In this study, we tested the outcomes of access to a response to intervention (RtI) model in kindergarten or in first grade on end-of-Grade-2 reading achievement and placement in special education. Across five schools, 214 students who began having access to Tier 2 intervention in kindergarten or first grade were compared in Grades 1 and 2 with…

The study examined the decision-making processes of 15 administrators, 22 psychologists, 28 teachers, and 15 nurses in judgments about learning disabled. Results indicated that judges did differ with respect to the weights assigned specific cues but were similar in their ratings of severity level and recommended educational placement. (Author/CL)

Of 223 children who were coded as buy-a-year (BAY), overplaced (OP), or traditional (TR) based on their Gesell placement status, there were no significant differences between TR, BAY, or OP children on referrals or classification or on receipt of speech and language service, remedial reading, remedial math, or counseling. (Author/CL)

Discrimination analyses indicated that the subtests chosen for hypothesized age-related deficits classified from 77 percent to 89 percent of the cases as compared with the school district's selection. (Author)

The guest editorial by W. Cruickshank criticizes as facile the assumption that the least restrictive environment for learning disabled children is a regular classroom. (GW)

Of school districts making high use (HU) and those low use (LU) of regular class placement options, HU special education administrators were generally more positive than LU Ss about mainstreaming and placement issues. HU teachers were more positive than LU teachers on several issues, and principals as a group were dramatically more positive than…

After a year of participation in an intermediary setting, the "Learning Laboratory," analyses of pre- and post-academic measures indicated that sixth- to eighth-grade learning disabled students demonstrated significant reading gains when compared with control students; ninth- to twelfth-grade learning disabled students did not demonstrate academic…

In an attempt to refine the definition of learning disabilities, a new term, dyssymbolia is proposed. (CL)

Self-concepts of 54 regular class, 48 learning disabled (LD) and 22 students referred for special education were measured, and mothers were asked to rate their child's self-concept. Results revealed minimal differences between self-concept scores of LD and regular class children. Mothers of LD Ss predicted lower self-concepts than their children.…

Extensive observational data were gathered in high school classrooms for handicapped and nonhandicapped students to establish social norms for comparision purposes, and help determine integrated placement. Significant difference in two behaviors (reading and listening/participation) were noted between the handicapped and nonhandicapped students.…

While the regular education initiative (also called regular education/special education initiative) has merit, the powerful complexities and dimensions inherent in the changes that are called for must be acknowledged. Excerpts from statements by teacher educators, Education Department officials, researchers, and national associations reflect the…

To assess a child's readiness to integrate, a "competency based assessment" is described. Here, the standards of a particular regular class are measured and the handicapped child's competencies are compared to those standards. (Author)

The study involving 60 learning disabled students (5-15 years old) was designed to determine whether delays in applying for psychoeducational evaluation result from the different ways parents and teachers perceive children and from their inability to communicate with each other. (SBH)