Policy and practice communities increasingly are emphasizing conceptual, cognitively demanding, and "ambitious" instruction. Within this context, we examine whether such practices serve the needs of students with specialized academic needs. Across upper-elementary classrooms in four districts, we find that exposure to…

Transition for students with disabilities has been the focus of educational policies for several decades. Still, students with disabilities, including those with a specific learning disability (SLD), continue to experience difficulties transitioning to post-school environments, particularly post-secondary education (PSE). The Individuals with…

Despite broad consensus that a research-to-practice gap exists in the education of students with autism, the extent of this gap has not been well studied. We surveyed 99 teachers in Ohio about their highest priority goals for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), their approach for addressing these goals, the degree to which students had…

Although parent involvement is a cornerstone of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), few individual parents of children with disabilities participate in civic engagement to voice their suggestions for the next IDEA reauthorization. To address this gap, a civic engagement training was conducted with 95 parents of children with…

This self-study guide provides state and local education agencies and schools with a tool to assess implementation of career readiness practices across a district or secondary school and to plan improvements. It is arranged by implementation areas that have been found to be important to career readiness efforts based on a review of the literature…

This study explored ways in which the arts could be infused into the day-to-day practices of special education teachers and paraeducators to support them in addressing Individual Education Plan (IEP) goals. This study further explored the impact of positive or negative help from teachers, nurses and paraeducators on student engagement. Due to…

The problem addressed is that inclusive classrooms lack consistent, collaborative learning opportunities for students with an identified learning disability (LD). A qualitative narrative inquiry was completed to collect teachers' stories and experiences. This study was framed by Vygotsky's social development theory, Bandura's theory of…

Individualized programmes for gifted students are one of the ways in which curricula can be adapted to take account of the identified educational needs of gifted students. Planning is a key phase in ensuring that these programmes are carried out in a high-quality manner. This article explores the challenges faced in the planning of individualized…

The person-centered individualized education program (IEP) transition planning has emerged as a primary indicator of quality services, and as a predictor for successful post-school outcomes for transition-age youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, these person-centered transition practices are not uniformly implemented across the…

In a world where children are likely to experience early-life trauma, relationships matter, and trust is a key in forming healthy working relationships. Intentionally teaching adults and teachers how to evoke calmness in ourselves and breathe to handle negative situations, trusted educators can then teach children to do the same. It is important…

Measures of student disadvantage--or risk--are critical components of equity-focused education policies. However, the risk measures used in contemporary policies have significant limitations, and despite continued advances in data infrastructure and analytic capacity, there has been little innovation in these measures for decades. We develop a new…

As transition services foster better post-school outcomes, all students with disabilities should be receiving these services as they traverse their final high school years. Using a national, web-based parent survey, we examined the frequency and correlates of the receipt of transition services for 189 students with disabilities. Parents reported…

Abundant empirical research points to a significant number of students not going to school across the United States. Further yet, there exists strong research consensus that absenteeism predicts negative and persistent academic outcomes for students. LEAs and related stakeholders have rightly adopted measurement and intervention on student…

The COVID-19 outbreak caused abrupt disruptions to many domains of everyday life, including education. Educational disruptions may be compounded for students who require supports and services to participate. We surveyed parents of students with disabilities and chronic health conditions to understand the extent of service delivery disruption,…

Assessing treatment integrity is essential to understanding how well school-based interventions are delivered. The assessment of treatment integrity is especially challenging for interventions that provide one-on-one peer support over the phone. To address this gap, we explored treatment integrity approaches used for the "Parent…