A study examined the perceptions and knowledge of preservice general educators (n=293) and 131 inservice teachers toward early literacy instruction for students at risk for reading failure. Results found many general education teachers, at both preservice and inservice levels, are not prepared adequately for this challenging task. (Contains…

This research examined the impact of the first-year implementation of an instructional intervention to promote achievement and equity in science and literacy for culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students. The research addressed three areas: (a) overall science and literacy achievement, (b) achievement gaps among demographic…

In this article, the author encourages the use of prevention and early intervention methods to prevent and reduce overrepresentation of African American students in the special education categories of mental retardation, emotional disturbance, and specific learning disability. The author discusses ways to adapt A. A. Ortiz's (2002) "Prevention of…

Early success in reading is predicated on a child's ability to accurately and effectively master core literacy constructs (e.g., phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, concept of word, and grapheme-phoneme correspondence) and to exercise these understandings in a comfortable sociocultural context. In recent years, educators, legislators, and…

The authors describe various parenting behaviors, such as nurturance, discipline, teaching, and language use, and explain how researchers measure them. They note racial and ethnic variations in several behaviors. Most striking are differences in language use. Black and Hispanic mothers talk less with their young children than do white mothers and…

In this article, I present a framework that can be used in our work with special groups of gifted students--one that recognizes the effects of socioeconomic status (SES), racism, and other limiting factors on educational achievement and provides a blueprint for interventions. This framework stems from Urie Bronfrenbrenner's ecological theory of…

This article describes the methodology and program effects of the Secondary Schools Demonstration Project (SSDP) conducted in four Ontario schools. The objective of the study was to evaluate the extent to which a universal program model of three interventions--cooperative learning; classroom management; and peer-helping approaches that included…

Inclusion is one of five National Priorities identified by the Scottish Executive Education Department. As a consequence, teachers throughout Scotland are presently confronting the progression from integration to inclusion, along with the many changes that brings. This paper recounts the first stage of an on-going case study into the experiences…

It has been acknowledged that children from poverty begin school missing many of the prerequisites for school success. The 1963 US initiative, Head Start, is the major federal program aimed at providing children in poverty the experiences necessary to start school on an equal footing with their same-age peers. This article uses data from the Early…

Early adolescents may lack the cognitive and metacognitive skills necessary for effective inquiry learning. In particular, they are likely to have a nonnormative mental model of multivariable causality in which effects of individual variables are neither additive nor consistent. Described here is a software-based intervention designed to…

This thesis describes the implementation of a cross-age program to reduce negative classroom behavior and promote community identity among students in elementary and middle schools in Rockford, Illinois. The targeted population consisted of elementary school students with learning disabilities and seventh- and eighth-grade middle school students.…

This article reports the results of a retrospective survey of participants in an exemplary transition program for college-bound youth with disabilities. The study compared how male and female participants perceived changes in themselves in the areas of academic skills, social skills, Internet skills, levels of preparation for college and…

This report focuses on a family of interventions that includes all "Direct Instruction" products ("DISTAR" and "Language for Learning"). "Direct Instruction" was used to refer to this family of interventions, as well as to all versions past and present. "Direct Instruction" includes teaching…

Since the first toy libraries opened in the 1960s and 1970s to support families of children with special educational needs, they have expanded to serve broader communities. Toy libraries do more than lend toys: they can provide family support services and specialist support to families with children with special educational needs, benefit…

This is an abstract for an action research project report on improving student motivation. Students struggle with motivation to perform well in school. This study was designed to increase student motivation in the classroom setting. The targeted population consisted of one third grade classroom, one fourth grade classroom, and three periods of…