The recent reauthorization and regulations of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004) encourage the use of school-wide interventions including response to intervention (RTI; Bradley, Danielson, & Doolittle, 2007). RTI refers to a multi-tiered system that addresses the academic needs of all students by using…

Universal design for transition (UDT) refers to an approach to instructional planning, delivery, and assessment that bridges the gap between teaching academic and functional/transition goals. It builds upon the principals of universal design for learning (UDL) assuring that instructional practices are designed to meet the needs of diverse learners…

In most western countries, the problems of effective university-controlled and largely university-based initial teacher education (ITE) have been apparent for many decades: whatever is achieved in the university, the teaching practices and attitudes that student-teachers usually learn to adopt are those currently dominant in the schools. So it is…

Research regarding the characteristics and applications of "errorless" learning methods (stimulus shaping, stimulus fading, and superimposition) indicates that such methods provide a means of designing instruction and materials to facilitate the acquisition of skills, with minimal or no errors, by "difficult to teach" students.…

Benchmarks and standards have become an important part of the teachers' instructional focus since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. As educators they all recognize the importance of having high expectations of their students. Standards help schools articulate these expectations clearly to students, their parents, and the community. Yet, there…

Observation of 20 teachers from mainstreamed preschool programs found that teachers engaged in many roles (including instructor, monitor, coplayer, entertainer, observer, behavior manager, materials manager, caregiver, and unavailable) and switched roles frequently. A model is proposed for assessing teachers' roles when planning how to embed…

This article focuses on curriculum analysis, an aspect of direct instruction that is frequently neglected or obscured by an emphasis on classroom management and teacher performance. Explicit strategies that are used to teach higher cognitive skills and the importance of teacher training in the appropriate use of direct instruction are discussed.…

Presented are guidelines for designing and incorporating cooperative group learning strategies into teacher preparation courses. Guidelines include determining appropriate content, selecting a cooperative format, forming cooperative groups, teaching cooperative skills, providing feedback, and evaluating learning. The student satisfaction results…

This paper introduces a series on the topic and presents a science education framework for teaching students with disabilities. Curriculum and instructional perspectives are reviewed, and the "guided meaning" approach is recommended as an inquiry-based strategy. A thematic scheme for organizing and developing science programs is proposed.…

This study used quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the use of inclusive pedagogy by science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty at three community colleges. The purpose was to identify barriers to the adoption of inclusive teaching methods for diverse learners and students with disabilities and to propose ways to…

The development of teacher-made "program pyramids" is recommended to organize individualized educational sequences for special needs students. The process involves analysis of the student's strengths and weaknesses, identification of general program domains, specification of program subdomains, statement of long-range goals, development of…

This article examines constructivism in terms of the learner, the content, teacher-student interactions, motivation, and assessment; evaluates mathematics standards and their sensitivity to students with mild/moderate disabilities; and identifies 19 instructional components derived from constructivism, focusing on teacher behaviors, teacher…

This response to EC 607 382 raises concerns about the standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. These include (1) the modest references to student diversity, (2) instructional methodology, and (3) the need for more research to validate the standards' curricular and instructional recommendations. (DB)

Principals and teachers need a framework that will allow school personnel to reach and teach all students within the general education setting. One such framework is universal design for learning (UDL). UDL is achieved by means of flexible curricular materials and activities that provide alternatives for students with disparities in abilities and…

This guide was developed by DAWN (Disability Advisors Working Network) in consultation with AHEAD (Association for Higher Education Access and Disability), Asperger Syndrome Association of Ireland, Brainwave, DeafHear, Dyslexia Association of Ireland and the National Council for the Blind. This is an introductory guide and should be used as a…