This article provides a compilation of integration options for including students with severe disabilities. It discusses collaborative planning for inclusion, and provides a chart illustrating the stages of planning for curriculum adaptations for students with disabilities. A case study of collaborative planning is provided. (Contains references.)…

Promising educational practices focus on achievement for all students and present evidence to demonstrate their effectiveness. Schools that have broken the mold are vision-focused and values-based. The most hopeful strategy for sustained, substantive educational improvement involves developing school staff into professional learning communities in…

This article suggests strategies and ideas to help build collaborative partnerships among all teachers who work with students who are gifted and have learning disabilities. It discusses the collaborative consultative process, establishing relationships with collaborative partners, and making collaboration run smoothly. Several relevant forms are…

This study examined perceptions of unified early childhood personnel preparation programs by 28 faculty members in such programs and by graduates (n=42) of unified, dual, or separate exceptional child education or exceptional child special education programs. Faculty stressed the importance of commitment and collaborative problem solving. The…

Describes the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, discussing the importance of sustained professional development and collaboration in achieving reflective practice and teacher change and describing how social and cultural history and literature and innovative critical pedagogy work together to enrich curricula, advance…

Discussion of rewards given to higher education teachers for excellence lists criteria in the following areas: demonstrates outstanding achievement; demonstrates various competencies; is committed to the integrity of his/her subject; appreciates stakeholders' concerns; is committed to continuous improvement; and constructively contributes to…

This article discusses components of teacher collaboration, such as working together to prevent learning and behavior problems and to minimize the need for special service referrals; learning to manage the care of students who must be referred; and participating in school-based teams working towards comprehensive integrated, programmatic…

Discusses the consultation model and the role of the classroom consultant for providing gifted/talented education in inclusive classrooms. Stresses the importance of training and support in the transition from being a teacher of the gifted to being a consultant. (DB)

Describes a survey of services provided by schools for pupils with learning difficulties and challenging behavior in Britain. Analysis of the responses of 80 teachers indicated a need for in-class staff support, curriculum access, and additional facilities and resources for such pupils. The value of teacher collaboration in solving problems is…

The experiences of two teachers describe how BreadNet, an online professional-development and educational conference, enables teachers with similar interests to work together and maintain a sense of community. BreadNet allowed their rural schools to participate in projects with distant schools, leading to improvements in the quantity and quality…

This review of 5 books, 21 articles, and 11 papers on general- and special-education collaboration found that the dominant culture of individualism and balkanization in higher education institutions, the lack of appropriate reward structures for collaboration, and contrived collegiality inhibit the development of collaboration. Characteristics of…

Describes the Vienna (Austria) School-Based Teacher Development Project, an innovative inservice-teacher-training project that views faculty development as a process that should allow teachers to participate in decision making within their schools. A key feature is that teachers acquire new knowledge and skills while they improve their group…

A survey of 230 secondary school principals found that they viewed their leadership skills for guiding collaborative-based programs to be within the average range. Predictors of their self-perceived competence were clock hours in noncredit-generative professional-development activities, academic degrees, and number of years teaching in general…

Discusses issues regarding the mainstreaming or locating of English-as-a-Second- (ESL) or Additional- (EAL) Language in the mainstream curriculum classroom. Presents the perspectives of the class teachers who are responsible for language and learning development of these students and reports on interviews with the class teachers who have…

This study used focus groups to examine the perspectives of students with and without learning disabilities and their parents regarding collaborative teaching. Both students and parents expressed high levels of satisfaction with the model. Concerns included poor communication regarding the model to parents, the need to ensure alternative models…