Nearly 63% of students with disabilities are included in general education classrooms for some part of their day, and at the high school level, 79% participate in state reading and math assessments (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). Middle and high school classes pose particular challenges because, unlike elementary classrooms, they are usually…

When schools in Pennsylvania and across the nation were suddenly shuttered in March due to COVID-19, teachers were faced with an enormous challenge: how to effectively teach and engage their students remotely when the vast majority had never done so before. In order to meet this challenge, teachers turned to an array of digital tools-such as Zoom,…

This study investigated the effectiveness of a program designed to train paraeducators to use prompting strategies to teach students with moderate to severe intellectual and multiple disabilities. The paraeducator training program contained three components: a) an initial training on using task direction, time delay, most to least prompting, and…

Twice-exceptional (2e) learners have often been misunderstood, disciplined, unchallenged, and left behind. Even as awareness of 2e students has grown, educators are still in need of practical tools to recognize and support their twice-exceptional students. This book answers that need, providing teachers with accessible information about…

The goal of the study was to better understand how instruction to students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) was delivered during remote learning this past spring and during the fall semester of the 2020-21 school year, and how these vulnerable students have been impacted. Research questions looked at special education teacher impressions…

The issue of attrition and retention has been a chronic problem in the field of education for decades. School districts across the United States are experiencing shortages of qualified special education teachers largely due to high turnover rates, with many of these teachers electing not to return after their first year of teaching. In fact,…

Today's classrooms contain students with a variety of needs. Although teachers work to differentiate and meet the needs of diverse students, inclusion of students with physical disabilities can present multiple obstacles in science classrooms. However, with advanced planning and strategic accommodations, the needs of these students can often be…

The Wisconsin-Minnesota Comprehensive Center (WMCC)--housed at the University of Minnesota's (UMN) Center for Applied Research & Educational Improvement (CAREI), the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC), and Education Analytics (EA)--works directly with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) on…

La Sierra Charter School was established in 2000 in an effort to provide a tuition-free school of choice for students who were not experiencing success within the local public schools, yet remained committed to "honor, leadership, postsecondary ambition, and service" (Tulare County Office of Education, 2020). La Sierra's programs are…

This booklet has been developed in hopes that it may aid in keeping communication open and focused between families and schools. Building communication between parents and the school staff through letters offers a way of keeping records of ideas, concerns, and suggestions. This booklet provides general guidelines to writing letters as well as…

Dual Language Learners (DLLs) with special needs have, historically, faced many cycles of integration and segregation. The formal educational system, in turn, has the potential to perpetuate exclusion or create inclusion and equitable spaces. This research looks at the individualized education programs' (IEPs) language goal outcomes of DLLs with…

With many students learning English also identified with disabilities in public schools, collaborations across special education and English learner (EL) education are critical to promoting these students' academic and linguistic development. Yet, many special education and EL teachers work independently of one another, focusing on their own…

The gap in academic achievement between regular and special education students is well documented. Math was once the stronger area for students with IEPs; however, the scores in Illinois in 2013 suggest that for the subgroup of IEP students, reading and math performance has reached an all-time ten-year low, even when correcting for the change in…

With the inclusion of Special Education Needs (SEN) students in public schools in many countries, there are increasing demands for designing professional development (PD) programs that meet the needs of in-service teachers in inclusive education settings. This paper proposes a framework for creating a PD program for in-service teachers who are…

In light of COVID-19, school divisions across the country closed their doors and shifted to remote instruction. In Virginia, little guidance was provided to assist educators and teacher educators with making this transition, particularly for students with individualized education programs (IEPs). In May of 2020, researchers surveyed Virginia…