Early writing interventions can help students develop the writing skills they need to experience positive educational and postsecondary outcomes, but effective intervention requires instructionally relevant assessment data. Shapiro's curriculum-based assessment (CBA) model integrates related yet distinct CBA approaches into a model that informs…

Contemporary teachers need instructional practices that are (a) powerful enough to meet the needs of a rapidly diversifying student population, (b) feasible to implement on a classwide basis, and (c) socially acceptable to them and their pupils. Classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) is one such instructional practice. In addition to describing CWPT, its…

As a part of the increasing emphasis among schools on meeting important statewide academic goals, schools are focusing more closely on the progress of individual students. Parents have a similar goal--to monitor the progress of their child. Frequent student progress monitoring accomplishes this common goal, in that it is used to track the progress…

As a special education teacher, locating effective techniques for improving and tracking her students' reading progress became an ongoing task. During the author's first year in that role, she realized immediately that finding an effective approach for improving reading was crucial for her students. A professor introduced her peers and her to…

Curriculum-based measurement encompasses an assessment methodology that can be used to develop goals, benchmarks, or short-term objectives for individualized educational programs for students with disabilities. Teachers also use curriculum-based measurement as a means for monitoring student progress across the year. This paper describes…

This review examines the efficacy of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) as an assessment methodology for enhancing student achievement. We describe experimental-contrast studies in reading and mathematics in which teachers used CBM to monitor student progress and to make instructional decisions. Overall, teachers' use of CBM produced significant…

The transition to adult life for students with reading and writing challenges is an area that is not often addressed. The purpose of this article is to relate the informal assessment process to the broader context of high stakes assessment, high school exit exams, diploma options, and transition planning; identify the competencies needed for a…

This article examines the complex needs of students with disabilities in learning rigorous standards-based curricula, the need of educators to teach this population standards-based curricula effectively, and the contextual factors that affect teaching and learning standards-based curricula in secondary schools. Exemplary and promising practices…

This document reviews information and research findings regarding various options to facilitate the full inclusion of students with disabilities. Principles of inclusive schools introduce the document. Three categories of strategies and interventions for working with students with disabilities are included: (1) program strategies, (2) classroom…

This book is designed to help educators provide effective instruction to students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Chapters address: (1) the concepts of inclusive society, schools, classrooms and services; (2) legal foundations for inclusion and government support for education; (3) the qualities of inclusive schools and classrooms; (4)…