The process of effective teaching--teaching that directly leads to student learning of standards-based content--is tenuous at best and easily disrupted by contextual and behavioral factors. In this commentary, I discuss the role of student support and mediation in teacher effectiveness and curricular reform. The most vocal students in physical…

The authors queried 313 paraprofessionals working in 77 elementary, middle, and high schools about (a) the contexts within which they support students with disabilities, (b) their knowledge about core competencies in educating these students, (c) the job-related tasks they perform most frequently, (d) their perceived ability to perform these tasks…

This case is situated in a Midwestern urban school district, exploring problems faced by its superintendent and administrators as they work to implement the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Developed from a study examining the response of P-12 districts to legislative policy mandates, the case presents problems and challenges experienced…

This first of two reports presents early findings from the National Evaluation of the Comprehensive Technical Assistance Centers (Comprehensive Centers), a federally funded program that provides technical assistance to states in connection with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The law authorizing the Comprehensive Centers, the…

At one time, academic inquiries into the relationship between socioeconomic class and language acquisition were commonplace, but the past 20 years have seen a decrease in work that focuses on the intersection between class and early language learning. Recently, however, against the backdrop of the No Child Left Behind legislation in the United…

At least 10% of students in private Christian schools are considered students with special needs. Private Christian schools vary in the degree to which they educate these students and in the approaches that they take toward educating them. This study examines whether or not private Christian Schools are allowing students with special needs access…

The No Child Left Behind Act was designed primarily to ensure educational accountability through schools producing positive results or outcomes for educational efforts. With this policy change, a need exists to provide parents information that describes the evidence basis for curriculum materials and interventions that are being used in special…