The sustained increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has become a widespread concern throughout the US as well as globally. Federal mandates (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA], 2004; No Child Left Behind [NCLB]) have directed state education departments and local educational…

This publication focuses on special education inclusion. Inclusion is a term that expresses commitment to providing specially designed instruction and support for students with special needs in the context of a general education classroom. All students in the school are full members of the community, participating equitably in the opportunities…

The urban inclusive high school classroom is a challenge for both students with disabilities and their teachers. Pressure is intensified when a year long course of study ends in a mandated state examination in English Language Arts, required for student graduation. This article highlights the experiences of two teachers in a New York City…

Brenda and Bob have told their family's story many times to professionals as they have navigated through the sometimes precarious waters of education and medicine in search of quality services for their son, Jonathan. Sometimes, along the way, especially when experiencing miscommunication and fragmentation, they've wondered to each other: Is…

Like never before, today's classroom teachers routinely are being asked to collaboratively analyze student data, develop or implement new mandated curricula, and assess the effectiveness of these innovations. Ironically, few preservice preparatory or in-service professional development programs actively train classroom instructors in the use of…

This article discusses the combination of two professional development strategies--lesson study and the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP)--which gave teachers in Freeport Public Schools, a district on Long Island, New York, new tools for improving instruction for ELLs in mainstream classrooms. The unique combination of the two…

This study examines interdisciplinary collaboration between mainstream-English and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) in-service and pre-service teachers enrolled in graduate methods courses in their respective fields. During the semester, TESOL and secondary English Education teacher candidates collaborated to develop young adult literature based…

The history between Cheektowaga Central and the University at Buffalo illustrates the benefits of forming long-term collaborative relationships between teacher education programs and local schools. In 1998, the author was approached by Suzanne Miller regarding the possibility of Meg Callahan, then a doctoral student at the University at Buffalo,…

During the spring semester of 2006 the Department of Physical Education (John Jay College of Criminal Justice) and a writing fellow, an English doctoral candidate (CUNY Graduate Center), began working together, with the goal of creating a new writing assignment for an integral course at the college. PED 103, Personal Physical Fitness and Dynamic…

The authors of this study document one middle school classroom in an attempt to understand how inquiry learning, supported with technological tools, can provide students with opportunities to develop ownership of science content knowledge. Case study and collaborative teacher researcher methods were utilized to document the implementation of a…

Good teachers were shying away from accepting 4th-grade positions because of the growing accountability pressures that were being unfairly brought to bear on that grade level. Highly publicized reports of the state's new battery of standardized assessments were scaring off applicants. To address the personnel needs while more fairly sharing the…

Alternative routes to teacher preparation are clearly here to stay. A growing research literature on non-traditional pathways suggests the complexity of the task ahead. This report offers new teachers the opportunity to tell their own stories in their own words. In "Alternative Certification and Alternative Pathways: A Personal Take on a Core…

In an effort to promote quality inclusive schooling for all children in New York State, the New York State Department of Education Vocational and Education Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID) teamed with Syracuse University School of Education to develop a consortium of over 65 colleges and universities state-wide with teacher…

As the principal of Baruch College Campus High School in New York City, the author wanted to help her teachers communicate with one another and put structures in place to develop the vision of the school while giving teachers opportunities for input and growth. After conducting a needs assessment, she found that teachers who had an ally in the…

The road to improvement has taken the staff of a high-poverty urban school from isolation to collaboration. The innovations that were developed based on the basis of the collective analysis of school wide requirements have helped the John Williams Elementary School No. 5 in Rochester, New York, to create pathways to excellence and become a…