A mother discusses the experiences of accelerating her gifted daughter's education through summer programs, grade skipping, and course skipping. Acceleration broadened the daughter's experience and sense of accomplishment and enabled her to participate in decision making about her future. Advice is offered to parents who are considering…

Presents a method that uses computers for writing placement exams, a "structured decision system." Argues that it is more economical and efficient than the process that uses real people as readers. (SR)

Special education faces three tasks created by pressures toward change: (1) keeping the issue of physical place in perspective, (2) choosing idea over image, and (3) avoiding fanaticism. Achievement of substantive reform calls for disaggregating special education populations, elaborating conceptual foundations, and strengthening the empirical…

A teacher educator--former teacher and principal, and mother of a developmentally delayed 12-year-old girl--discusses placement of special children from 3 perspectives. Under the best of circumstances, inclusion is a very good idea. With too little funding, training, or development, it can be a disaster. Selecting the right children for inclusion…

Reviews Lipsky and Gartner's book, "Beyond Separate Education: Quality Education for All," and Biklen, Ferguson, and Ford's book, "Schooling and Disability: (NSSE Yearbook Series)." Discusses the shared opinion that the direction of reform should be toward the integration of handicapped children into the regular school program. (JS)

Proposes that a second-language acquisition research paradigm using Universal Grammar (1) did not consider the paradigm's theoretical and logical basis; (2) simplistically interpreted the parameter-setting paradigm; (3) and made false assumptions regarding statistical analysis methods and regarding the empirical facts of language processing. An…

Examines federal data on trends in inclusion of students with disabilities. Text and tables show placement settings for students with disabilities, changes in placement settings across categories from 1988-89 to 1994-95, trends across categories, and the overall trend toward increased inclusion of students in all disability categories. (DB)

Evaluation of a project to improve higher education access for adults with disabilities found students preferred separate over integrated provision. In integrated programs they felt isolated by teachers' lack of understanding and other students' reactions. In discrete programs they experienced shared understanding of disability, support, and work…

Examines school adjustment outcomes and emotional learning difficulties for students who participated in readiness kindergartens and pre-first classes. Significant differences were noted in retention rates, dropout rates, and special education placement rates. In spite of limitations of research, the practice of placing children in programs based…

This article presents two case studies illustrating how inclusion of students with disabilities can be successfully or unsuccessfully implemented. Case Study 1 demonstrates the appropriate use of inclusion and teaching strategies to maximize learning. Case Study 2 is an example of actually providing a most restrictive educational environment while…

Analyzes reading practices in the classroom and the mechanisms through which school proposes a uniform way of reading based on the concept of middle-class reading. (PA)

Describes reasons for resisting computer editing tests and suggests possible problems with using only directed student self-placement in open access institutions. Presents a sample student profile to illustrate the interaction and negotiation among writing teachers as they read profiles and reach an agreement about their placement recommendation.…

Provides an overview of the Portfolio Placement Project (PPP) at the University of Arizona; explores the concept of validity as it relates to the PPP; explores the concept of reliability within the PPP; and argues that the PPP has had enormous positive impact on the curriculum of the University of Arizona and the schools whose students submit…

This paper reviews the literature on full inclusion and its applicability for students with autism. It concludes that, although the goals and values underlying full inclusion are laudable, neither the research literature nor thoughtful analysis of the nature of autism supports elimination of smaller, highly structured learning environments for…

Focuses on two endeavors to improve basic writing: the statement on writing assessment adopted by the Conference on College Composition and Communication and the reauthorization of Chapter 1 funds of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to support educational remediation. (RS)