Historically, states in the northeast region have differed considerably from neighboring states in the percentage of their special education student population served in different education environments. Placement data indicate the degree to which students with disabilities are placed in the least restrictive environment along the continuum of placement options. This study investigates the degree of consistency with which placement classifications are used by different raters or coders within and across states within the region and explores possible explanations for state-to-state variation in placement patterns. Microsoft Word Version
Richard Reid, a licensed school psychologist with 25 years working in public schools, discusses his work with the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities in identifying the strategic elements necessary to implement the Responsiveness to Intervention model within local school districts. Acrobat
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TAcommunities.org is one of several forums available as part of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Program's Technical Assistance initiative to exchange strategies and ideas that will improve outcomes for children with disabilities. The Technical Assistance Communities CoP website includes many topics, and NERRC's Vicki Hornus works in one of them — least restrictive environment for Part B (children age 3-21). In this Information Outlook article, Hornus discusses her work in this area.
Special education has become a system that depends heavily on relatively untrained, underpaid, and devalued staff members to provide complex instructional and behavioral programs to our most challenging students. This newsletter contains a brief description of some of the larger issues and growing concerns that surround the employment, training, retention, and support of paraeducators. The ideas presented come from research; many are from a number of paraeducators with whom the author has worked over the years. |
