In March 2014, The National Center for Education Research (NCER) and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER), in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U.S. Department of Education, convened a Technical Working Group (TWG) of practitioners to provide input on research needs in education and how research could be more…

Local special education directors oversee district-level special education programs. They play an essential role in assisting with program administration, ensuring the quality of special education services and working with teachers and parents in the education process. A number of state special education directors have noted that job turnover in…

Presented are the results of a survey of opinions of state directors of special education on short and long range planning for the efficient delivery of Regional Resource Center (RRC) services to state education agencies (SEAs). Listed among the research questions asked is "What are the opinions of state directors of special education on a number…

The paper looks at staffing issues in meeting special educational needs in high schools in Manchester, United Kingdom. The concerns of Heads of Departments (N=26) included improved training and inservice, their extended roles within their schools, the support role of special needs staff, and the need for more planning and evaluation. (Author/DB)

In order to help formulate the research questions for a future study on the long-term outcomes of students with disabilities, this study collected information from eight states concerning their priorities for longitudinal research on students who received special education services under the age of 5 years. State directors of special education in…

In a phase of education as relatively new as the education of exceptional children, concepts and practices are constantly expanding and changing. These changes have been accompanied by an increasing recognition of the value of the work done by special education personnel in State departments of education; relatively little attention, however, has…

One of a series of monographs addressing issues concerning the training and use of paraprofessionals working in education programs for the disabled, this report considers the expanding utilization of paraprofessionals in special education and its related services. The first section describes the current state of the art with regard to personnel…

Survey responses of 46 state directors of special education regarding the problems faced by severely handicapped students who exit public schools but require adult services indicated that severe discrepancies exist in most states between the number of people needing adult services and the capacity of such service systems to meet these needs.…

This report presents baseline data that identifies and describes the policy-related problems confronting State Education Agency Personnel in delivering vocational education to handicapped learners. The first section sets forth these two major objectives of the nationwide study: (1) to develop a survey instrument and techniques for identifying the…