This study was presented at the American Educational Research Association 2012 conference in Vancouver, Canada. The study explored how action research of arts-based teaching (ABT) impacted at-risk students in three urban public schools in southern California, USA. ABT was defined as using arts, music, drama, and dance in teaching other subjects. A…

Educators today are challenged with the task of designing curricula and standards for students of varying abilities. While technology and innovation steadily improve classroom learning, teachers and administrators continue to struggle in developing the best methodologies and practices for students with disabilities. "Models for Effective…

Many students with learning disabilities struggle with the writing process throughout their school years. As students approach graduation, effective communication though writing becomes more critical. Writing is a skill that can directly impact the quality of life for older students preparing to graduate and progress to college, a career, or…

We describe findings from a series of longitudinal studies utilizing a response to intervention framework implemented over 3 years with students in Grades 6 through 8 with reading disabilities and poor reading comprehension. Students were identified based on reading comprehension scores in Grade 5 (n = 1,083) and then randomized to treatment or…

Meta-analysis is considered an acceptable method to evaluate research studies for evidence-based practices. The purpose of this review is to examine the applicability of using meta-analyses in the learning disability field to guide classroom practice. The authors evaluated 15 learning disability meta-analyses in three domains: large-scale…

Students who are socially competent are more likely to experience school success than those who are not. Students with social deficits experience frequent failures with both peers and adults and often require explicit social skills instruction. Because social skills instruction programs taught in isolation rarely result in successful skill…

The authors compared a conceptual model-based problem-solving (COMPS) approach with a general heuristic instructional approach for teaching multiplication-division word-problem solving to elementary students with learning problems (LP). The results indicate that only the COMPS group significantly improved, from pretests to posttests, their…

Students with learning disabilities (LD) are increasingly expected to master content in the general education curriculum, making the need for effective instructional supports more important than ever before. Science is a part of the curriculum that can be particularly challenging to students with LD because of the diverse demands it places on…

Vocabulary development for students with learning disability (LD) is affected by "differences in the amount of independent reading, lack of strategies to learn words from content, and diffuse word knowledge" (Jitendra, Edwards, Sacks, & Jacobson, 2004, p. 300). Generally, students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have relatively strong skills…

This dissertation consists of two essays which examine the relationship between dyslexia and the application and acquisition of financial knowledge. Recent behavioral research has documented that factors such as representativeness, overconfidence, loss aversion, naivete, wealth, age and gender all impact a person's risk perception and asset…

The "Herman Method"[TM] teaches reading in small groups of up to three students. The curriculum provides instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension, while also teaching spelling and writing. It contains 20 modules of instruction through a fifth grade level. Each module includes a reading,…

Central to The Lab School model is Sally Smith's Club Methodology, the full immersion of students into a time period where historical information is learned through multi-sensory activities. While immersed, through the use of costumes and elaborately decorated classrooms, students are engaged in project-based learning. As the student's…

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 encourages schools to use interventions to ensure that students' literacy difficulties are not instructional problems before assuming a learning disability. The law frames these interventions in two ways: as a strategy for identifying students with learning disabilities--a measurement…

My research combined two qualitative narrative methods, autoethnography and portraiture. These methodologies were used to design word portraits of three second-grade boys, one second-grade and two third-grade teachers, and one special educator. This study's focus was twofold: exploring the literacy and learning perspectives of second-grade…

Learning strategy instruction is an evidence-based practice for teaching adolescents with mild disabilities. However, researchers have not developed strategies for every content area or skill. Therefore, teachers need to be able develop strategies based on the needs of their students. This article reviews the process for developing and teaching…