This book discusses the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms and describes strategies that enhance the social success and educational achievement for all students. Section 1 provides an introduction to inclusion and contains the following chapters: "Rationale for Inclusive Schooling" (Anastasios Karagiannis and…

The New York Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (NYCETP) is a multi-campus project designed to produce competent science and mathematics teachers. Ongoing formative evaluation included documenting NYCETP meetings and conferences, providing feedback summaries on conferences and working groups, and evaluating course conversion and…

For past two decades, there has been a growing national concern about teacher quality. This presentation discusses Connecticut's Beginning Educator Support and Training Program (BEST) and emulation of its assessment component by a medium sized department of education. The support component of BEST requires that all school districts provide…

The paper analyzes the dialogical interaction between a group of third graders and their teacher in one classroom episode. The semiotic and cognitive activity of the dialogical interaction is considered to be an "interpreting game". The episode exemplifies how in dialogical interaction the back-and-forth loops of interpretation, intention, and…

This paper summarizes what one research team learned when examining three issues related to inclusive education and general education reform in collaboration with schools in three rural districts in Oregon. The issues were: (1) how does special education becomes an integral part of public schooling; (2) how will higher education, research…

The University of California Irvine (UCI) and Beit Berl College (BBC) in Israel developed an action research project with cooperating teachers at their Professional Development Schools. This paper examines perceptions of UCI and BBC cooperating teachers within each culture and across cultures regarding: (1) contributions teachers provide to…

This report describes a program for improving performance of 54 sixth and seventh grade students with special needs included in a computer applications class. The targeted students exhibited deficiencies in basic computer classroom performance. Probable causes for poor performance were identified through a review of literature and an analysis of…

This guide for novice teachers includes ten sections: (1) "A Knowing Colleague as Counsel...About the Policies, Practices, and Politics!" (proactively seek a mentor); (2) "A Place Called 'My Room' for Students To Grow, To Groom, and To Zoom!" (create a climate that fosters growth and pride); (3) "A Method for Managing 1,500 Decisions: On Your…

This paper describes the Professional Renewal Program for Educators (PRPE), a faculty-driven, tripartite effort developed to increase the knowledge and skills of education faculty, arts and sciences faculty, and P-12 classroom teachers in the areas of instructional technology, cultural diversity, and democratic principles in public education. Led…

This paper describes efforts to promote professional development among Brazilian elementary teachers via a 6-year public school-university partnership, presenting theoretical and methodological frameworks, general research characteristics, and results. Researchers investigated how a constructive-collaborative intervention that examined reflection…

This document describes the context in which colleges and universities prepare teachers to work with children with disabilities, presenting a vision for a system of teacher preparation conducted through partnerships between higher education and P-12 schools. It offers perspectives, ideas, and examples that may help those who are engaged in and…

Organizations, regardless of size and complexities, must depend on communication as a medium to effectively function. Regardless of the best-laid strategies, lack of communication may yield unfavorable results. Needless to state, organizational communication has been perceived as a challenge within many educational organizations. The intent of…

This book provides advice intended to empower new teachers with the tools necessary to feel prepared, confident, and comfortable and to succeed, maintain enthusiasm, and remain committed to teaching. Among the numerous strategies and survival skills it promotes are time and stress management, effective organization, quality lesson plans, and…

Noting that enthusiasm for teaching has everything to do with attitude and a willingness to change and collaborate, this book discusses how an experienced teacher approaches teaching fourth-grade students in a school in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Topics covered include setting up the classroom, organizing for teaching, individualizing instruction,…

This narrative analysis presents one teacher educator's self-study of her first year in teacher education. It occurred when she was the junior partner in redesigning and teaching a science discipline subject to preservice elementary educators. The three-part learning and teaching model they developed included cooperative groups, learners'…