Reviews and critiques research on occupational stress, teacher attrition, and burnout among special educators. Stress sources are identified and a framework is presented for organizing the literature base and introducing proactive innovations that will address professional needs and current shortcomings and will mediate the effects of stress.…

A study involving 593 students (ages 15-29) with deafness investigated the validity of a shortened version of the Transition Competence Battery for Deaf Adolescents and Young Adults (TCB). Overall results suggest that the "Mini" TCB is a viable assessment tool that can be used in transition assessment. (Author/CR)

An Australian study investigated the cognitive functioning profiles of 32 individuals with Fragile X compared to those of 8 children with Down syndrome. Individuals with Fragile X scored significantly lower on sequential processing measures than on simultaneous processing. This difference was not evident for the group with Down syndrome.…

This study examined effects on 62 elementary students with learning disabilities undergoing triennial reevaluation of the change from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised to the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Third Edition. Results indicate changes in the correlation with Woodcock-Johnson--Revised Tests of Achievement…

A questionnaire given to 42 special educators, leaders in universities, special education institutions, and schools with special education facilities was used to investigate the practice of school psychology in 12 East and Southern African countries. The availability, regulation, and utilization of school psychology services was reported to be…

This paper compares eight inclusive models for elementary students with mild disabilities, described in terms of curricular innovations and organization of personnel and classrooms. Results suggest that inclusive programming can be effective for some, but not all, students with mild disabilities and that organizational and instructional changes…

Competing ideas of social justice, based on either individual rights or communitarian principles, are related to apparent contradictions in special education practice in response to pressures for reform. Special education reform is seen to require a relational definition of the self, structures to support relationships, and a belief in the…

Evaluation of a sequenced inquiry learning task with 20 normally achieving junior high students, 18 students with learning disabilities (LD), and 16 with mild mental retardation (MR) found 75 percent of the normal, 50 percent of the LD, but none of the MR students made the correct induction. LD and MR students were less likely to answer…

This study developed a normative core profile taxonomy of the four scholastic aptitude and corresponding achievement scales of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery (Revised). Cluster analysis was used to sort 2,620 students from the standardization sample. Results of internal and external validity analyses provided support for eight…

Comparison of the ability of 40 third graders (none receiving special education services) to read aloud at varying difficulty levels and to comprehend material read found that large (but not small) improvements in reading aloud were indicative of improved performance on traditional comprehension tasks. Results suggest use of criterion levels of…

Peer coaching was evaluated with 22 preservice special education teachers (PTs) who designed and implemented skills-remediation lessons for children. Data from 132 observations and three case studies indicated the PTs improved their interrater reliability and teaching skills as measured by the Scale for Coaching Instructional Effectiveness (SCIE).…

The Teacher Followup Survey of 4,798 public school teachers found higher annual turnover for special education teachers than for general education teachers, in both attrition from public school teaching and transfer among public schools. General and special education teachers who left did not differ significantly in postteaching activities or…

The Teacher Followup Survey of 4,798 public school teachers found that teacher turnover decreased as the following variables increased: age, the number of dependent children, the level of certification, the number of years since the last degree was earned, teaching experience, and salary level. Strategies to maximize teacher retention are…

Summarizes 14 mathematics word-problem-solving intervention studies for elementary and secondary students with disabilities or who were at-risk for math failure. Interventions included representational techniques (diagramming), strategy-training procedures (cognitive and metacognitive), task variations (sequencing and word-problem context), and…

This study investigated the retention of stories by 20 children with mild mental retardation (MMR), 28 with learning disabilities, and 38 typical children (ages 10-13). The children with MMR recalled less than others, but all recalled story content with many connections on the causal chain better than content off the causal chain. (CR)