Post-school outcomes are poor for youth with disabilities, in general, but even more discouraging for certain subpopulations of individuals with disabilities, particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. The authors discuss structural inequalities in public schools which potentially contribute to the poorer…

Many parallels exist between quality coaches and quality classroom teachers--especially AP teachers, who often feel the pressure to produce positive test results. Having developed a series of techniques and strategies for building a team-oriented winning culture on the field, Jim Fornaciari writes about how he adapted those methods to work in the…

Budget constraints and difficulty raising taxes limit school districts from expanding education programming, even when research shows that additional expenditures would generate economic benefits that are greater than costs. Recently, coalitions of private investors, philanthropists, education practitioners, and government finance analysts have…

The data are clear: Unless the nation can find a better way to accelerate improvement in the quality of education and implement it in the next 10 years, this nation will lose its competitive edge against other nations and another generation of children will be lost. Eighty percent of Illinois high school graduates are not capable of doing the…

Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

The Special Education Parents Alliance created an employment project seeking jobs in the business community for special education graduates and other persons with disabilities. The project serves learning disabled, educable mentally handicapped, trainable mentally handicapped, and physically disabled persons in DuPage County and portions of west…

This interdisciplinary inservice training project at the University of Illinois at Chicago was designed to improve early childhood occupational and physical therapy services by developing, implementing, evaluating, and disseminating a comprehensive training model. The competency-based program was designed to address the developmental needs of…