The report submitted by the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education includes faulty claims and reasoning that devalue special education and hinder efforts to better meet the needs of students with disabilities. We question the commission's findings and recommendations regarding closing the achievement gap, practicing prevention,…

In this paper we examine how the figure of the teenager is positioned within the discourses and practices of commercial online media. In particular, we explore how the popular, Australia-based web portal "ninemsn" works discursively to shape the identities of young people. Ninemsn not only constructs and circulates selected…

Some educators have developed teaching strategies to address issues of racism and discrimination in the classroom. Although these exercises are provocative and no doubt meaningful for students, they generally do not address the impact that racial group membership has on student response to provocative issues like affirmative action. In the…

In this paper the authors explore two pedagogical moments that occurred within a diversity-focused secondary teacher education course, giving specific attention to Genevieve's and Debra's reflections as course instructors. We explore the ways in which instructors find themselves challenged, engaged and provoked to rethink taken for granted ideas…

Alcohol remains the drug of choice for many adolescents; however, the nature of the relationship between athletic involvement and alcohol misuse remains ambiguous. In this article, we used a longitudinal sample of over 600 Western New York adolescents and their families to explore the gender-specific and race-specific relationships between…

This article presents a framework for school administrators developed by Mesa Unified School district used in identifying and assisting the subtly struggling adolescents. Mesa's "safety net" approach targets middle grades students in the midst of their formative, pre-high school experience. Here, it is stated that the first step to identify a…

This module, one in a series of performance-based teacher educational learning packages, focuses on skills that vocational educators and other occupational trainers need to create learning environments that are accessible, accommodating, and equitable in meeting instructional needs of exceptional students. The purpose of the module is to give…

This book broadens the imagination within social studies education by highlighting current, cutting-edge scholarship incorporating critical discourses. Drawing on postmodern, poststructural, postcolonial, and feminist theories often borrowed from cultural studies, curriculum theory, critical geography, women's studies, and queer studies, the…

The chart presented in this paper offers an overview of the special education process. It is not designed to show all steps or the specific details. It shows what happens from the time a child is referred for evaluation and is identified as having a disability, through the development of an individualized education program (IEP). The process…

The ability to communicate feelings, thoughts, ideas, viewpoints, and opinions empowers an individual to educate others about who they are. Because communication is a two-way action, when students learn to communicate effectively they also learn to look and listen to what others are communicating. Empowerment through communication skills…

While many East Asian economies have in the past witnessed the coexistence of economic growth and modern welfare provisions, this has no longer been the case since the Asian Financial Crisis. This article is an attempt to unravel the latent policy objectives behind an assessment tool for residential services ostensibly aimed at rationalizing…

The percentage of the population involved in the Christian church in New Zealand has been declining since the middle of the 1960s. Most seriously affected has been the mainline Protestant denominations such as Presbyterian, Anglican and Methodist. This article analyses and presents data collected by the National Church Life Survey New Zealand 2001…

In this article the authors consider how youth engage in social practices of identity through their online practices with images. Although they build on social practice perspectives, informed by the new literacy studies, they question the extent to which such perspectives have created new autonomies and separations, including the separation of…

Individuals with high-functioning autism are characterized by almost normal language ability and intelligence as well as social, pragmatic impairments. Before the 1980s, limited research was focused on this disorder. This paper reviews previous research on this underserved population with a hope that we are able to gain some insights from existing…

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors related to placement in special education for males and females. The conceptual approach included individual, family, and school characteristics believed to influence educational performance and outcomes with emphasis was given to variables for with evidence of differential effects for males and…