This paper provides assistance to Florida school districts regarding the development of their extended school year (ESY) policies and procedures for students with disabilities as required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA) Act and Florida statutes. Following a brief section providing background information, 27 questions and…

The purpose of these guidelines is to assist local boards of education, charter school organizers, and charter school governing boards in identifying legal, procedural, and funding issues related to serving students with disabilities in Colorado charter schools. As a best practice, charters should contain a specific plan for compliance with…

In some schools, students with disabilities achieve exemplary results. To find out what these schools do that set them apart, the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs sponsored a series of studies focused on "Beacons of Excellence Schools." This topical brief highlights results from three of these studies. The University of Maryland study…

"Zero to Three" is a single-focus bulletin of the National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families providing insight from multiple disciplines on the development of infants, toddlers, and their families. Noting that America's babies and toddlers live in a world full of television sets, VCRs, computers, videogames, and interactive…

This report discusses the activities and outcomes of a project designed to provide training and technical assistance to families and professionals working with children and youth with severe disabilities in developing and implementing effective educational programs in school and community environments. The project was implemented in collaboration…

This brief report discusses the outcomes of a study that examined statewide behavioral initiatives (SBI) that involve general education, special education, or both. Forty-three state education agencies (SEAs) responded to a survey that investigated the development of SBI, focus of the SBI, and how well the SBI addresses the needs of students with…

An action research project developed and implemented a program for increasing global skills and awareness of ethnic diversity in the classroom so that students could better understand others. The targeted population at two midwestern sites consisted of middle school sixth graders and high school learning disabled students in social studies…

For Taiwan, Republic of China, a nation with limited natural resources and a population of 22 million people in an area of only 36,000 square kilometers, the development and use of human resources plays a pivotal role in sustainable economic growth. Vocational education and training are two major human development methods. Since persons with…

This publication is designed to encourage more voices in general and special education by providing advice for all education professionals interested in reaching colleagues by publishing their work. It addresses publishing books, curricula, and other products, articles, and grant proposals. Specific chapters include: (1) "Catching the Writing…

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that investigated the effects of modifications to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1996 assessment designed to encourage the participation of more students with disabilities. Modifications included revising the inclusion criteria with the intention of making them clearer, more…

This document is a review of the literature on educational accountability and the presentation of a model of accountability developed by the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE). Current literature is reviewed in terms of definitions, relationships to past educational reform movements, and critical issues that…

This proceedings contains 57 presentations and presentation summaries concerned with rural special education. The papers are arranged in 11 sections: impacting governmental policy, at risk, collaborative education models, early childhood education, gifted, multicultural, parents and families, preservice and inservice teacher education, technology,…

This introduction to a reference guide for early childhood special education personnel in North Dakota discusses the purpose of the guidelines, the North Dakota philosophy on the importance of early intervention programs, and quality indicators of early intervention programs. The highlighted quality indicators of early childhood programs include:…

The 32 readings in this collection discuss the needs of children who are both gifted and also have special needs such as a disability ("twice exceptional"). The readings are grouped into four major sections. Section 1 is titled "Family Matters: Perspectives from Family Members" and includes the personal viewpoints of…

This school-version technical manual provides an overview of the "Transition Behavior Scale-Second Edition School Version" (TBS-2 SV), an assessment that was developed to be a direct observation screening measure of behavior characteristics most predictive of behavior in society in general and employment specifically. Those students (ages 12-18)…