In January 2000, the Alternative and Safe Schools Instructional and Support Division (ASSIS) of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NC DPI) was charged with developing guidelines that determined how districts could establish and maintain effective Alternative Learning Programs (NC DPI, 2014). In 2003, ASSIS produced the first…

Across the country alternative schools and programs for middle and high school at-risk students are increasingly popular. They often function as an alternative to expelling or suspending at-risk students who may not be succeeding in traditional classrooms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations between alternative education on…

In the United States, Response to Intervention (RtI) is used to promote the use of evidence-based instruction in educational institutions, with the goal of supporting general and specialized educators and enabling these professionals to work together in a comprehensive, integrated manner. In doing so, RtI provides a protocol for identifying…

This article addresses the effects of 3-tiered comprehensive reading and behavior interventions on K-3 student outcomes in 7 urban elementary schools with a high prevalence of students considered difficult to teach. Specific features of each level of the implementation are described including screening and tier placement procedures, scheduling and…

No significant difference in beginning ninth-grade pretest compared to ending ninth-grade posttest comparisons of American History t(17) = 0.34, p = 0.37 (one-tailed), d = 0.09, English t(17) = 1.40, p = 0.09 (one-tailed), d = 0.34, and Biology (t(17) = -1.58, p = 0.07 (one-tailed), d = -0.22, course grade scores were observed for students…

The disproportional representation of culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse and low-income students in special education and gifted and talented programs has been a persistent issue for many decades. It has been a long standing trend that the percentage of minority students constituting special education programs exceeds their…

The identification of students who are gifted traditionally has been grounded in criteria with an emphasis on unitary measures of intellectual ability. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the performance of elementary school children in a Southeastern state identified as gifted using an assessment process based on MI theory, the Problem…

When accurately assigned and administered appropriately, testing accommodations help ameliorate the effects of personal characteristics that limit access to critical information and prevent a person from demonstrating his or her true abilities in the tested domain. Inaccurate assignment or misuse of accommodations may counteract the benefits of…

Comparison of short and long duration consultant-driven prereferral interventions with 60 general elementary educators, 60 pupils with special needs, and 22 consultants found that both variants were equally effective in improving teacher perceptions of their students and in decreasing referrals for testing and possible special education placement.…

The report presents data on the effectiveness of Program Alternatives to Special Education (PASE), an effort to reduce the number of students referred to special education in New York City schools. Four major evaluation issues are addressed: number of students participating in PASE during the 1985-1986 school year; reasons for student selections…

The current study investigated the impact of implementing Instructional Consultation Teams (IC Teams) on the disproportionate referral and placement of minority students into special education. Data were collected on referral and placement patterns of minority students in 13 IC Teams schools and 9 comparison schools. Three accepted indices of…

The investigation assessed the effects of three increasingly inclusive versions of the Behavioral Consultation (BC) model on problem behavior in mainstream classrooms, in an effort to develop an effective and efficient approach to pre-referral intervention. Subjects were 43 general educators, their 43 most difficult-to-teach nonhandicapped…

This paper reviews current practices in urban school districts, concluding that for inner-city children, special education referral, evaluation, and placement practices are not more effective now than 25 years ago. The characteristics and needs of inner-city special education youngsters and the difficult options facing school administrators are…

This study evaluated the cost effectiveness of Instructional Support Teams (IST) in Pennsylvania, by comparing IST costs to those of traditional special education programs. An introduction notes pressures for change and the objectives of the prereferral intervention utilized in the IST approach. The study compared costs and program effectiveness…

This study examined the management, operation, and effectiveness of special education programs in 33 urban school districts from 1984-85 through 1986-87. Data were collected on special education students, facilities, budgets, pre-referral, referral, placement, exit from special education programs, program evaluation, vocational education, related…