This inservice training module was designed as part of the Child-Centered Inservice Training Project (Syracuse, New York) for use with paraprofessionals in educational programs for children with developmental disabilities. Use of the materials is recommended to encourage team problem solving, to practice new skills, and to provide ongoing support…

This paper describes Michigan's strategy for defining and assessing employability skills. A statewide task force, appointed by the Governor, defined an initial list of academic, personal management, and teamwork skills. The skills from this list were more specifically defined for a questionnaire that was mailed to a random sample of over 7,500…

This resource manual has been compiled to facilitate collaboration between teachers and speech-language pathologists (SLPs), to describe types of communication disorders that SLPs work with, to identify practical pre-referral techniques for classroom implementation, and to outline goals and objectives used in remediating speech and language…

This step-by-step guide is intended to help educators learn about the characteristics and activities of high-performing managers. It synthesizes the ideas of several experts on business management performance and includes examples of highly successful educational managers. It also briefly presents a comprehensive strategy that educational managers…

The Mainstream Assistance Team (MAT) Project is a 3-year program to develop, implement, and validate a prereferral intervention model with nonhandicapped difficult-to-teach students. This paper presents a rationale for prereferral assessment and intervention focused on the increasing numbers of mildly handicapped students enrolled in special…

The report describes the University of Florida Multidisciplinary Diagnostic and Training Program (MDTP), jointly administered through the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Special Education. It functions as a diagnostic, training, and consultative resource to local school districts in north central Florida and provides short-term…

A sample of 160 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students in a Baltimore City (Maryland) magnet school participated in an experimental study on the effects within cross-race and cross-sex friendships on a mathematics program that used Team Assisted Individualization (TAI). TAI is an instructional method that combines individualized instruction with…

This paper presents the thesis that pair problem-solving serves as an aid to students in developing their metacognitive skills. Metacognition has been defined as knowledge and cognition about cognitive objects and as any kind of monitoring. The ability to monitor one's thoughts and actions is greatly facilitated through the pair problem-solving…

The purpose of this guide is to assist junior high physical education teachers to plan coeducational physical education classes in grades seven through nine as mandated by Title IX. A brief outline is presented of the physiological and psychological characteristics of junior high school students and how consideration of these factors may be used…

National Institute of Education (NIE) staff members have developed a convening process characterized by collaborative meetings with experts to focus on specific problems of an educational organization. The process is intended to help combine research knowledge with practical experience in order to make informed decisions quickly. This document is…

A review of current guides for and advice on preparing distance education materials suggests that such aids are inadequate to help solve the problems faced by course developers because of several underlying assumptions: (1) there is no need for advice on the preparation process--establishing an ideal of the desired product is enough; (2) good…

Futurum in Sweden is described here as a school that does not have any classrooms, there is nothing like a timetable, no school bells can be heard, the students do not have any school bags, and teachers are without desks. Futurum is a radically new school that merges creative architecture with modern learning and teaching methods. This article…

To reduce professional discord among admission and discharge committee members charged with placement and treatment decisions involving exceptional children, a Cognitive Dissonance Paradigm is proposed. The paradigm is noted to allow each team member to present assumptions and their interpretations of causes of the problem without critical review…

Parents and professionals are increasingly working together to serve handicapped children; however this partnership is often marred by conflict. Most explanations for the conflict emphasize the psychological and attitudinal characteristics of individuals. Although this explanation has some validity, it precludes identification of the more basic…