Special educators are urged to use research findings to inform their instruction in order to improve student outcomes. However, it can be difficult to tell whether and how research findings apply to one's own students. In this article, we discuss how special educators can consider the samples and the sampling methods in studies to examine the…

Although implemented in 1975, the inclusion of students with special needs into the mainstream general education environment has taken a slow path. Now in an age where federal and state mandates affect the ways in which schools are run, the least restrictive environment mandate has been met with increasingly wide acceptance. In order for all…

A study was conducted to develop a comprehensive program costing model for vocational education. This model produced a comparison between the cost of operating a given vocational program and the average aggregate cost of operating all basic education programs. The model is applicable for both the secondary and postsecondary level programs and can…

Exemplary adaptations of the California Community Colleges' Student Accountability Model (SAM) are presented, based upon interviews with administrators at 37 colleges or districts known to have implemented SAM practices. After a description of SAM (a set of procedures for the follow-up of occupational students), the report examines the criteria by…