Classrooms across the country are discovering the power of service-learning--the ideal way to help students develop social and academic skills while giving back to their community. Now for the first time, there's a practical how-to guide on using serving-learning to promote inclusion and differentiate instruction for students with and without…

Much progress has been made in the past three decades to improve the quality of education for students with disabilities. Schools have had to undergo complex changes in order to implement the special education laws regarding access to and structure of educational services. Although services have dramatically improved, there remain frequent…

The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) funds schools located on 63 reservations in 23 states across the nation. Of the 183 schools, 59 are Bureau operated and 124 are tribally controlled. One-hundred and sixteen schools provide instructional programs, 55 provide instructional as well as boarding services and 12 peripheral dormitories provide only…

This brief is intended to provide State Education Agency (SEA) and Local Education Agency (LEA) educators with a brief overview of key components of GraduateFIRST, a Georgia program targeting issues impacting school completion for students with disabilities. Georgia's GraduateFIRST program has redefined the state's approach to raising graduation…

Four elementary students referred for special education evaluation were observed systematically for 2 entire days each at three different times within the referral-to-placement process. Data were recorded on 53 variables within six categories in 10 second intervals to examine changes in the nature of instruction and academic responding time as a…

The manual was intended to clarify the relationship among annual goals, short-term instructional objectives and performance objectives for special education students in Michigan. An overview of state and federal requirements is followed by analysis of the annual goals (general statements relating to a skill area without specific reference to…

The individualistic enterprise of education is questioned in this paper. The scientific movement in education in collaboration with private corporations and federal funding has fostered an individualistic enterprise that promotes a restricted role of the individual in society. Three well-known individualization projects are Individually Guided…

The study developed and tested a systematic format for discovering and displaying relationships among five major federal laws concerning the handicapped: P.L. 93-112 (Rehabilitation Act of 1973), P.L. 93-380 (Education Amendments of 1974), P.L. 94-63 (Special Health Revenue Sharing Act of 1974), P.L. 94-103 (Developmentally Disabled Assistance and…

The authors present an approach to the assessment of learning disabilities based on a definition of significant enabling skills for school learning. Students' competence in information processing, language, and mathematics is assessed in 11 tests. By using the Assessment of Basic Competencies test, it is possible to determine a child's location in…

Implications of P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) for individualized education programs (IEPs) for homebound/hospitalized students are examined. Difficulties in Florida's interpretations of the IEP regulations are cited, and the general trend of overly elaborate IEPs is noted. Special considerations with…

An evaluation of Individual Education Programs (IEPs) for 41 children (ages 7-11) with Down Syndrome enrolled in public schools indicated that the learning of functional skills in natural settings was rarely addressed in the IEPs. No relationship was found between overall functionality and either reported intelligence test scores or age.…

An Iowa program used the Individualized Education Plan model to evaluate the vocational interests and appropriate program placement of newly incarcerated young prisoners. (Author/DB)

The article describes a method to link a competency based vocational curriculum that reflects current industry standards with the educational planning components of the Individualized Education Program. Implementations strategies and benefits of the V-TECS (Vocational-Technical Education Consortium of States) are considered. (CL)

Parents of preschool gifted children were surveyed regarding their attitudes toward the identification process (almost half were uncertain about the system), participation in the program (transportation difficulties), administrative considerations, preschool teachers, and individual educational planning (a majority supported the IEP). (CL)

Before teachers can productively implement individualized education programs for handicapped students, substantive IEP planning should occur at state and local levels. Impediments to IEP development should be identified and relationships among federal, state, and local agencies clarified. A paradigm is offered to help the teacher systematically…