Explores what educators can do to facilitate effective collaboration with aides who are providing one-to-one support for mainstreamed children with such disabilities as autism and pervasive developmental disability. Emphasis is on the importance of effective planning, careful identification of roles and skill areas, and supervision. (DB)

A case study explored how a middle-school teacher made decisions about individualization in daily lessons for students with learning disabilities. Results indicated content-centered planning and instruction as prominent themes in the first year, and a focus on the academic diversity of students in the second. (Author/CR)

Through Michael's eyes, this article illustrates personal disconnections between a good, "invisible" kid and his overworked teachers. Anonymity is the curse of the overloaded, specialized American comprehensive high school. Few teachers can be fully effective when teaching five dozen students. Reallocating instructional resources is…

A study explored whether a writing-assessment rubric could be used as an effective teaching strategy with 10 deaf children (grades 5 through 7). From fall to spring, students showed significant improvement in four writing qualities and no significant improvement in five qualities. The ability to individualize rubrics is discussed. (Author/CR)

This article discusses how laptop computers can be used in gifted education to create learner-centered environments, promote independent inquiry, stimulate creativity, risk taking, and development of passions, encourage complexity of ideas and higher level thinking, offer a variety of grouping options, and provide for flexibility and mobility.…

Special education teachers (N=22) monitored the mathematics progress of 42 students (grades 2-8) with mild to moderate disabilities (mostly learning disabilities) for 20 weeks using curriculum-based measurement (CBM). Evaluation of instructional adjustments based on individual CBM results found that students whose instruction had been individually…

This study compared the instructional contexts of 15 students with severe disabilities educated in general education elementary classrooms and 15 general education students in those same classrooms. Different instructional contexts existed for students with severe disabilities and more individualized instructional supports were provided,…

First discusses the philosophy, structure, and content of instruction for students with severe disabilities and then presents procedures to define and incorporate strategies to meet the unique needs of students with visual and multiple impairments. A five-step analysis process is suggested for modifying a core curriculum to individualize…

A study found that all regular and reading recovery students (n=150) participating in a code-oriented program, Schoolwide Early Learning and Literacy (SWELL), significantly outperformed counterparts (n=163) on tests measuring pseudoword decoding, reading connected text, invented spelling, and a standardized reading measure at the end of Year 1.…

This paper describes the Model Mathematics Program, which uses above-level testing to identify students with mathematical talent and then provides flexibly paced instruction for such students at four levels of ability. Students in the program demonstrated significant growth in mathematics computation skills and concepts as well as improved…

This paper describes how functional assessment procedures can be used by classroom teachers to determine the relationships between instructional variables and challenging behavior in students with disabilities. A case study describes use of these procedures with an adolescent boy with severe developmental disabilities. (Author/PB)

Derives a time-denominated learning cost curve from an economic model of programmed instruction and uses experimental data to identify it for each learner. This portrayal suggests that equalizing the time allowed to learn, as in conventional group instruction, distributes learning outcomes and human capital unevenly. The distribution of education…

Investigates the effects of group personalization of instruction on the mathematics achievement and attitudes of 72 fifth-grade Taiwanese students. Personalization was accomplished by incorporating personal information and preferences provided by students into their mathematics word problems. Students were blocked by ability level, then randomly…

Investigates the effects of learner-control and the aptitude-treatment interaction effects between instructional control and learner characteristics in procedural learning. Participants were 128 undergraduates. Results indicate empirical evidence illustrating the power of learner-control and relevant ability on learning procedural tasks in…

The Wood County (Ohio) Alternative School Program was studied to determine overall effectiveness as perceived by students, parents, probation officers, and school administrators. Results indicate that the alternative school was perceived as generally effective, due to small classes and individualized instruction. The alternative school/home school…