In most school systems in the United States, interscholastic sporting events and other extracurricular activities help bring people together while enhancing opportunities for students to become integral parts of their communities. Because of the important role that extracurricular activities, especially sports, play in the lives of students,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between special education provision in Norway and school district leaders' perspectives regarding (a) the need for special education and (b) the importance and prevalence of integrated and segregated approaches. Findings indicate that the percentage of students perceived as being in need of…

In this case, a child with a spinal cord injury was denied access to an afterschool care program that her nondisabled siblings were allowed to attend because she did not meet "eligibility requirements." Specifically, the independent contractor who ran the program mandated that students be able to function in an environment with a student…

This article draws on an important distinction between abstract and concrete forms of utopia advanced by the Marxist philosopher of hope, Ernst Bloch, to examine participation and disability in education. Bloch's view of concrete hope, attuned to reason, engaged with social reality and inseparable from human responsibility, is drawn upon to…

In this article we describe the new opportunities for postsecondary education available to students with intellectual disabilities (ID) through the Higher Education Opportunities Act of 2008. We also identify the importance of these opportunities for students with ID, and key strategies for ensuring that their college experience is an important…

Without question, servicing the needs of incarcerated youth can be challenging. Not only is the average juvenile a complex individual with multiple needs but the facility itself is a composite of trained professionals that must work together to produce a juvenile able to successfully reenter society. Policies enacted to achieve this goal cannot be…

Distance librarians working with graduate programs often discover many of their students have specialized information needs and require additional instruction. However, it can be impossible to discover these students without first becoming deeply involved with the program. Librarians at Benedictine University have developed a method for becoming…

Individualized learning plans (ILPs) are being implemented in high schools throughout the United States as strategic planning tools that help students align course plans with career aspirations and often include the development of postsecondary plans. Initial indications are that ILPs may be an important method for helping students achieve both…

Although schools have made great strides educating students with disabilities in mainstreamed academic classrooms, some advocates and physical educators say sports programs and physical education classes are the final frontier for full inclusion in public schools. In the past few years, advocates for such students have been demanding greater…

Opportunity to Learn (OTL) stems from the basic premise that there is an important relationship between the quality and intensity of classroom instruction and students' levels of academic success. For many students with disabilities, an emphasis on OTL has become national priority, yet measuring its impact is a complex challenge. The first purpose…

The article reviews the literature in the following five areas of concern for parents of cerebral palsied children: causes and effects of cerebral palsy, family dynamics, counseling, educational and vocational programs, and employment. (PHR)

Teachers of students with "low-incidence" disabilities, such as students who are deaf or hard of hearing, face unique challenges in putting education policy into practice. The present article presents professional development findings from the Third Annual National Survey of Accommodations and Assessment for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard…

Analyzes the application of the principle of unity in different historical phases of the East German educational system. Argues that East German successes in reducing the number of socially underprivileged were always accompanied by a sharpening of the trade-off between educational equality and excellence, for which no solution was found. (DSK)

Successful inclusion of very young children with disabilities in natural environments requires professionals to have specialized skills including: collaboration with the child's parents and caregivers and other professionals, ecologically valid assessment of the child within the context of his or her natural environment, and the design of an…

Few educators today would argue with statements about the growing diversity of the children being educated in most schools. There is acceptance and often celebration of this diversity, including the growth and dispersal of the population of children and youth from diverse linguistic backgrounds, but there are also concerns about the ability to…