This article presents the career/vocational assessment process as a critical component of transition planning for students with disabilities. It provides an overview of career/vocational assessment, methods of gathering assessment information, issues to consider, people involved in the assessment process, and recommendations for career/vocational…

All school professionals working with children and adolescents deal with social skills issues. Even if not the primary issue or goal, teachers, counselors, school psychologists, other specialists such as nurses, speech and language therapists, etc., and some administrators make informal assessments of their students' ability to successfully…

Students with physical impairments often have difficulties with reading and writing skills. As a result, they are behind when compared to their non-disabled peers. This requires teachers of students with orthopedic impairments to know the obstacles that effect reading and writing instruction for their students. They also need to be able to use…

In this article, the author explores the experiences of teaching staff on the conflicts and contradictions of working in a mass higher education system in the UK. The author conducted an in-depth interview with members of staff working in the area of the social sciences at different universities in the UK. She focuses on how her interview…

This module presents information for training paraprofessional school staff on providing cross-cultural support services to individuals with disabilities and their families. Both a facilitator's edition and a student's edition are provided. Chapter 1 offers an introduction to diversity and direct service and includes sections on terminology and…

This report presents a research-based framework for identifying high-quality early childhood centers. Quality in a school-based early childhood center is identified by: (1) classroom parameters, including curriculum and adult-child interaction; (2) client parameters, relating to children, families, and communities; and (3) school structure…

This paper, written by the director of the Documentation and Technical Assistance Project (DTA), reviews lessons learned from this project for enhancing problem solving capacities of urban schools, and assesses some of the reasons that the project was terminated ahead of schedule by the National Institute of Education. In the first chapter the…

This report summarizes findings from an investigation of instructional television and radio utilization in Scotland, which was undertaken in three stages: (1) interviews with head teachers and audiovisual technicians or auxiliaries in 100 primary and 100 secondary schools to study the level of broadcast use, organizational and attitudinal factors…

Research on educational and criminal justice programs sought to clarify the relationship between organizational characteristics and innovation adoption. It focused on the reasons why organizations adopt innovations and the differences in clientele, staff, and decision-making participation between organizations adopting or unaware of an innovative…

The use of auxiliary personnel, which includes paraprofessionals, volunteers, and peer- and cross-peer tutors, has become prevalent in special education programs. Teacher education programs need to focus on the skills required by teachers to utilize these assistants appropriately and effectively. This paper outlines one method for incorporating an…

A competency-based instructional program was developed to improve the training and performance of paraprofessionals working in education programs for special needs students. The content is designed to meet the training needs of entry-level instructional paraprofessionals serving in public school programs. The content is presented in five modules,…

A leader's guide for conducting a workshop on managing bilingual program evaluations is presented as part of the Bilingual Evaluation Technical Assistance (BETA) project. After examining how to organize the workshop, the following aids are presented: a preworkshop preparation checklist, a sample room arrangement diagram, a workshop time schedule,…

The relationships of perceived participation in decision-making, communication variables, and employment and employee job satisfaction were examined. A survey was conducted with 103 classified employees (clerks, secretaries, and the lowest level supervisors) in three administrative units at a comprehensive, eastern university. Employees were asked…

Twenty-eight articles focusing on non-adversarial approaches to resolving family disputes without formal court procedures are collected in this manual. The 16 articles in the first chapter discuss aspects of divorce mediation. These are followed by six papers in the second chapter on the mediation of family conflicts involving domestic violence…

The development of high school accreditation in California and six recommendations for the accrediting process are considered. From 1884 until 1962, high school accreditation was conducted by the University of California. Since 1962, the Accrediting Commission for Schools of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) has been the…