This article chronicles the development of a portfolio system used primarily to assess special education high school students on a variety of traditional and non-traditional standards and skills. Developing, capturing, sharing, and assessing student learning can be problematic when traditional testing or classroom assessment methods are not an…

In order to comply with the regulations put forth by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states are required to submit evidence associated with their statewide accountability systems to the United States Department of Education (ED) for peer review. Thirty-eight states submitted…

The most salient aspect of independent living and successful post-high school transition to employment is having the ability to independently use transportation. Adolescents and young adults with disabilities continue to experience significantly lower employment rates than their peers without disabilities (Wagner et al., 2003). One way to support…

As a result of the demanding 21st-century workforce, local education agencies are beginning to refocus and retool to ensure students with disabilities have the knowledge and skills to be productive adults and attain positive postschool outcomes. The skills 21st-century transition assessments address are relevant to teachers and students given the…

Federal law requires that all students, including students with disabilities, participate in state assessments used for accountability purposes. It also requires states to assess students in several content areas, including science. Most students with disabilities take the general science assessment with or without accommodations, but a few…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Power Cards on the initiation and maintenance of conversational skills in students with Asperger syndrome. Three high school students with Asperger Syndrome participated in this study. Power Cards were used to prompt students' previously learned conversational skills in a multiple-baseline…

The problem of middle adolescent substance use and abuse among high school age males was examined. Financial and socio-emotional costs and rates of incidence for substance use and abuse among high school males are addressed followed by a discussion of social, environmental, and intra-psychic factors, which influence substance use and abuse. To…

The purpose of this technical assistance paper is to provide a description of the procedures used to determine school grades for the 2014 school year. Florida's current school accountability system originated with state legislation passed in 1999 (the "A+ Plan") and has been revised periodically to reflect increased standards and…

It is important for special educators to have a strong repertoire of diagnostic methods to determine how well students with high-incidence disabilities are accessing, reading, and remembering content from textbooks used in their middle and high school classes. Suggestions for using the diagnostic information to guide specialized instruction…

The study in this article examined the relationship of school counselors' reports of demands and resources in their work environment to perceived stress, biographic factors, and caseload characteristics. Participants were 227 school counselors in Texas. Paperwork requirements and size of caseload were rated the most demanding aspects of their job,…

Legislators mandated transition education for students with disabilities to improve their post-school outcomes. Each student with an IEP should have an annual transition plan at or before his or her 16th birthday. IDEA mandated the utilization of age appropriate transition assessment to develop students' post-secondary transition goals based on…

The current U.S. federal mandate for educational accountability requires state departments of education to collect data on the postschool employment and postsecondary school and/or training enrollment of young adults with disabilities. To examine how these data have been collected, we conducted a literature synthesis of follow-up and follow-along…

This 2016 directory identifies, describes, and contains evaluative data evidence-based practices that improve academic performance, close the achievement gap, and improve persistence towards graduation for low-income, first-generation, and historically-underrepresented 6th grade through college students. The directory was a production of the…

Miller Singleton, a high school student, recently produced a video that shared her vision of a program in which learners could use materials from the MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) initiative to obtain a college degree. She calls the program the Open Content Educational Program (OCEP), a program that is offered to high school seniors that gives them the…

Since 2002, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) at The George Washington University, a national advocate for public education and improving public schools, has been studying state high school exit examinations--tests students must pass to receive a high school diploma. This year marks the 11th year CEP has reported on exit exams in order to help…