This qualitative descriptive study explored how general education K-6 teachers describe their ability to implement student Individualized Educational Plans (IEP) in their classrooms and the supports needed for effective implementation of IEPs in Ohio. Self-Efficacy has been defined as the confidence that an individual has in their ability to…

Students with disabilities have been inequitably served by the United States educational system for decades. This research study explores general education teachers' beliefs and pedagogical approaches to the incorporation of students with disabilities into their classrooms. 22 general education teachers (teaching grades 1-5) participated in a…

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…

Dyslexia is a neurologically-based, lifelong condition that affects a person's ability to process language, which in turn can make reading and writing more difficult. Between 10 and 20 percent of all people are dyslexic. Providing appropriate reading instruction and intervention for young children by second grade could reduce the percentage of…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teaching the Vocabulary Lincing Routine (LINCs) to students with special needs at an elementary school. Three 4th grade students were selected according to their Individual Education Program (IEP) as having a learning disability (LD). Data were collected from different instruments including…

Research strongly suggests that visual supports, such as pictures, prompts, cue cards, story boards, graphic schedules, and diagrams, have been effective for providing instructional structure for a wide variety of children and for multiple activities. Making successful transitions from one activity to another is difficult for many children,…

The Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), asked the Council of the Great City Schools to review the district's services for students with disabilities and provide recommendations to improve performance and narrow the achievement gap between these students and their nondisabled peers. This report was designed to help SCUSD achieve its…

Poor science achievement has been an educational issue for a number of years. Students with disabilities have traditionally fared worse. Research suggests that students with disabilities may respond better to instruction using an inquiry-based approach vs. traditional textbook instruction when measuring science achievement on standardized…

This study of a role change intervention, a type of cross-age tutoring, was conducted as a "true" experiment. Forty tutors from four low-achieving ninth-grade general math classes and 68 tutees from three fourth-grade classes were randomly selected. The classes were in inner city schools in which about ninety percent of the students were black and…

Forty randomly selected, nonvolunteer, low achieving ninth graders selected from four classes in an inner city junior high school, were assigned the role of tutor to elementary school children in order to determine if this practice was promising as a method of compensatory education. In three of the four classrooms, the tutors and nontutors…