This part of the School Management Handbook provides elementary school administrators with an overview of some of the special education regulations mandated in Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Section 1 of the document defines screening and evaluation procedures for identifying handicapping conditions of children…

Part of a series of Rural Network monographs concerning rural service delivery to young handicapped children and their families, this collection of four papers identifies problems inherent in finding appropriate personnel to work in rural areas, suggests strategies for retaining staff, and describes three distinctly different training programs…

Addressed to high school and college students interested in working with the mentally retarded, the booklet describes opportunities in the field. Careers considered include 16 in health and health related services, four in education, seven in social and rehabilitative services, and six in administration and coordination of services. Research…

This project attempted to combine pre-service methods, student teaching and in-service curriculum improvement. The participants were 18 elementary classroom teachers, 22 college students, 1 Miller-Unruh teacher, 1 Title I teacher, 4 special education teachers, and a principal. The college students were assigned to one elementary (K-8) school for…

The study reported here was conducted as part of a larger investigation designed to identify instructional strategies most beneficial for English language learners with disabilities. Other aspects of the investigation are examining the research literature, information from parents and students, and the effects of specific strategies. In this…

In December, 2004, the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) hosted one of its series of national telephone conferences on the topic of access and alignment to the grade-level content for students with significant cognitive disabilities. Dan Wiener from the Massachusetts Department of Education was the practitioner presenter. Dan Wiener's…

Sixteen papers, developed as part of a 10-year study of substantive and methodological aspects of teacher education in special education at the University of South Florida, address professional issues in special education. The papers are: (1) "To Improve or Reconstruct Special Education: Issues Facing the Field" (James L. Paul and Ann…

This final report describes activities and achievements of a 3-year project using a public school and university partnership structure to jointly recruit, select, train, certify, and retain special educators in a high poverty rural service region of Northeastern California. Emphasis was on improvement of educational services for pupils with high…

This study surveyed 106 student teachers/interns to determine (1) whether they possessed theoretical beliefs about second language learning and teaching that reflected the methodological divisions of skill-based, rule-based, and function-based approaches toward teaching English as a Second Language (ESL); (2) the extent to which their…

Native American students are often placed in special education programs because their English is poor, they are unprepared for an unfamiliar environment, and traditional classrooms do not accommodate their strengths and needs. The lack of Native American special education teachers at reservation schools compounds these difficulties. Three…

Assistive technology is equipment that improves the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. Using assistive technology, children discover they have control over their environment and develop a sense of competence and independence. As special education enrollments increase, more students are using assistive technology, but many…

San Diego State University (California) has developed a coach-of-coaches model of providing support, assistance, and supervision to intern-teachers in its rural special education alternative credential program. Coaches, who are fully credentialed teachers with supervisory skills, make a minimum of nine direct and indirect (video analysis)…

This brief discusses the outcomes of a study that examined the views of 32 secondary education teachers in four secondary schools on the inclusion of students with disabilities in their classrooms. Analyses of the interview data indicate that the general education teachers were committed to inclusion and that they did make instructional…

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of a federally funded program that was designed to address the shortage of qualified early intervention personnel in rural areas of Kansas and adjacent states. Forty-seven early childhood special education (ECSE) students were supported with stipends during the three years of the project.…

A study examined the employment status of elementary, early childhood, and special education graduates from Chadron State College (Nebraska) for the academic years of 1996/97-2000/01 at 2 and 5 years after graduation. Surveys of 282 education graduates, most of whom were teaching in small towns and rural communities of their midwestern states of…