Early writing interventions can help students develop the writing skills they need to experience positive educational and postsecondary outcomes, but effective intervention requires instructionally relevant assessment data. Shapiro's curriculum-based assessment (CBA) model integrates related yet distinct CBA approaches into a model that informs…

Response to intervention (RTI) is advocated in elementary school as a system-wide, multitiered model of academic and behavioral interventions. Middle schools have begun adopting RTI models based on these existing elementary models. This investigation into current middle school RTI practices describes technical aspects as well as some of cultural…

This special issue deals with the identification and remediation criteria/practices employed in several countries regarding learning disabilities (LD). An analysis of the identification criteria suggests that most countries follow early law mandates of the United States (e.g., PL 94-142) regarding the definition of the disorder and use the…

The reading and mathematics achievement and specific mathematics competencies of 74 children were followed during second and third grades. Although children with moderate mathematics deficiencies (MMD-only) and children with moderate mathematics and reading difficulties started out at the same level in mathematics, the MMD-only group surpassed the…

A study involving 66 sixth-graders with learning disabilities, average achievers, and gifted students found gifted students used significantly more visual-spatial representations than the other two groups in solving mathematical problems. Students with learning disabilities used significantly more pictorial representation than their peers, a…

A meta-analysis of 30 studies found the following learner characteristics influenced the treatment responsiveness of early literacy interventions: rapid naming; problem behavior; phonological awareness; alphabetic principle; memory; IQ; and demographics. With the exception of the demographic category, the obtained effect sizes for the primary…

A longitudinal study examined effects of social influences on 557 middle school students with learning disabilities and 8,392 typical students. Having a learning disability was associated with consistent, mostly negative, effects on social relations. Student perceptions of friendship groups had small, but significant, effects on their growth in…

Data from three studies investigating factors supporting literacy development of children from low-income families indicate: early levels of achievement are strongly linked to later success; kindergarten vocabulary is strongly reflective of the use of varied vocabulary during meal times; and teacher training in literacy is beneficial to classroom…

This article discusses the poor reading achievement of African-American children in urban schools and argues that prevention efforts must begin prior to kindergarten. Key variables influencing young children's performance, including poverty, general oral language skills, dialectal variations, home literacy practices, standardized testing bias, and…

This article suggests the following emergent and early literacy research priorities: new theoretical accounts of emergent and early literacy; incorporation of recently developed, innovative study designs; and considerations of the brain development in research design. Priorities are also listed for exploring predictor variables and for…

This study examined the arithmetic computation performance of 229 normally achieving students (ages 9 to 14) and 101 students with learning disabilities. Results found that the students with learning disabilities performed at lower levels and that their progress from one age to another was extremely limited. (Author/CR)

A survey of 859 school psychologists who indicated prior experience conducting bilingual psychoeducational assessment identified 36 factors used to comply with provisions in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act relating to assessing bilingual or limited-English-proficient students. Seventeen additional factors that were overlooked and…

This study of 20 sixth- and seventh-grade students with learning disabilities receiving social studies instruction found that prelesson learning set activities (including interactive review of previous instruction, statements of lesson objectives and expectations, and discussion of the lesson's importance) resulted in significantly better…

Comparison of two fourth-grade teachers who effected different patterns of achievement (either expected achievement or high achievement) among their students (including those with learning disabilities or low achieving) found important differences in terms of pacing and format of instruction, student involvement in the lessons, motivation,…

Nineteen special educators implemented Curriculum-Based Measurement with a total of 36 learning-disabled math pupils in grades 2-8 to examine the effects of goal line feedback. Results indicated comparable levels and slopes of student performance across treatment conditions, although goal line feedback was associated with greater performance…