The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 supports equitable access to educational opportunities for all children who have disabilities. IDEA requires that students who receive services for special needs receive a free appropriate public education, and have access to the general education curriculum, which includes…

How much do specialized academic discourse communities matter to undergraduate writers? To what degree should theories of specialized discourses influence the design of undergraduate Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs? At the University of Iowa, where an undergraduate Writing Fellows program engages peer tutors in writing-intensive…

This article reports on the effectiveness of the first systematically developed health education intervention for the reduction of risky sexual behavior among soon-to-be-released prisoners in South Africa. Data from three out of four prisons are eligible for data analysis including 263 inmates. Using a nested experimental design, short-term…

Successful inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms requires a variety of supports. This article demonstrates the role that peers can play in supporting each other. Whole-classroom strategies such as Class-Wide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) and cross-age tutoring are highlighted as methods of supporting inclusive education.…

A project investigated the cultural life, ideology, and education systems of particular prison gangs. It focused on recent changes in the gang system regarding gang education, organizational structure, and the balance of power in prisons and in relations with street gangs. Finally, the project assessed California's response to its prison gangs, in…

This paper presents the seven assessment instruments used by the Student Literacy Corps project at Fitchburg State College, Massachusetts, to document tutee progress and tutor assessment. The paper includes: (1) the Flippo Interest Inventory (for assessing tutee's attitudes toward reading); (2) instructions for the tutor to give to students on how…

To deal with the time shortage problem while simultaneously stressing student educational development, a system was designed and implemented to manage a peer forensics coaching program. The program taps the peer coaching potential available on every team and generates academic credit and letter grades for the peer coaches by utilizing a…

Answering a variety of questions about cross-age and peer tutoring, this digest provides information on how tutoring programs are organized, how to start programs, why tutoring programs are effective, and what the critical ingredients of peer programs are. The digest briefly discusses two examples of effective programs recognized by the National…

The emotional transitions basic writers have to make when they enter the academic setting can be overwhelming. Basic writers tend to have a host of problems and obstacles to overcome, not the least of which are their own anxieties. One way to alleviate some of the anxieties and insecurities is through a studio or workshop course staffed with…

A discussion of how peer - prepared learning activity packages are used. (HB)

Trainable mentally retarded children can learn effectively and increase their independence in peer teaching situations. (CL)

A review of the research regarding the effectiveness of cooperative learning methods (particularly student teams) indicated that when the classroom is structured in a way that allows students to work cooperatively on learning tasks, students benefit academically as well as socially. The greatest strength of cooperative learning methods is the wide…

A review of the literature regarding mastery learning suggests that mastery learning can benefit gifted education programs in two ways. First, the process provides information to determine if gifted students have mastered essential elements for a particular subject area, a necessary but often overlooked step before proceeding to enrichment.…

The handbook outlines Arizona's Project SUPPORT (a System for Utilizing Peers in Program Organization, Review, and Technical Assistance), a cooperative effort to effectively meet the educational needs of exceptional children. Addressed to teachers and administrators working with handicapped students, the SUPPORT process is introduced: procedures…

Cross ability tutoring--having more advanced students work with slower learners--seems to provide the repetitions required to teach the severely retarded a skill. At the Eastern Shore Vocational and Rehabilitation Center (Virginia), students who read at grade 2.0 or better are paired with others, some of whom are working on writing their names or…