This paper has been developed by the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children to serve as a companion document to the 2003 joint position statement "Early Childhood Curriculum, Assessment and Program Evaluation-Building and Effective, Accountable System in Progams for Children Birth through Age 8" of National…

Intended as a guide for replicating parts or all of the Mountain-Plains Career Education Model IV, this handbook provides a detailed description of a residential, family-based education program developed to improve the economic potential and lifestyle of selected student families in a six-state area. The handbook is divided into seven chapters and…

Resource materials and program planning guidelines are set forth for the creation of a multi-level, modular program in English as a second language for adult learners. An overview of the modular system briefly discusses staff requirements, program designs, and laboratory materials. The role and duties of the teacher aide are treated. Seven…

Individualization and personalization of instruction in general and in foreign language study are examined. The historical and theoretical background of individualization and aspects of various programs are discussed. The concentration is on the literature and programs as developed in the 1971-73 period. Individualization of foreign language…

One in a series devoted to transportation career education, this guide which is intended for use by teachers in grades 11 and 12, presents a program to prepare students for careers in transportation. Section I gives an introduction to career education and its four phases: career awareness, orientation, exploration, and preparation. Section II…

The inservice training package for teachers of severely and profoundly handicapped children consists of six field tested modules. Each module consists of the following components: objectives (general and specific), instructional methodology, instructor materials (lecture notes and transparencies), participant materials (worksheets and handouts),…

This paper reports on the development and use of several tools designed to sensitize caregivers to the fact that infants are very different from one another and that caregiving needs to be tailored to the styles and needs of each child. Four approaches were used: (1) having caregivers rate the infants regularly on a small number of rating scales…

An application of evaluation methodology to innovative educational programs through a case study of a Chicago suburban high school program for alternative education is presented. The evaluation methodology encompasses the difficulty in combining comparative programs, individual-diagnostic, and individual developmental measures, the selection of…

The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD) was assigned the task of compiling, analyzing, and summarizing the data for Indicator 1--Graduation--from the FFY 2008 Annual Performance Reports (APRs) and amended State Performance Plans (SPPs), which were submitted by States to the Office of Special Education…

Autism spectrum disorders, as the name suggests, do not represent a single nor straightforward set of needs to be met. The challenges facing education and other professionals, and the young people whose needs are being addressed, are considerable. The key is to see past the presenting issues, often behavioural in nature, to the communication…

This study examined the effectiveness of the Self-Directed IEP to teach individualized education program (IEP) meeting skills. One hundred and thirty secondary students were randomly assigned to the treatment or control group. Observations of 130 meetings and 764 IEP team members were performed using 10-s momentary time sampling to determine the…

Music teachers around the country are dealing with an exponential increase in the number of students with disabilities in their classrooms and ensembles. Teachers often do this without any training, support, or specialized information about how best to educate these children. They do their best to include all children in their music classes, but…

This article focuses upon the use of the portfolio as a tool to assess professional performance in beginning classroom teachers and in special education applications. An Oregon pilot study, the Beginning Teacher Assessment Model (BTAM) for elementary teachers in their second or third year in the classroom, is described. The BTAM relies extensively…

This guide defines the state of the art in Wisconsin's programming for students with emotional disturbances (ED). The guide begins with an overview of the ED assessment process, including screening, referral, multidisciplinary teams, eligibility criteria, and individualized education programs. A chapter on setting up service programs discusses…

This study investigated state policy, court litigation, and accreditation standards with respect to the use of time-out as a behavior management strategy in special education programs. The study's emphasis was on existing standards concerning the use of locked time-out rooms and student supervision requirements during the application of time-out.…