Individualized education programs are considered the cornerstone of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act and serve as the means to determine whether qualified students with disabilities receive a Free Appropriate Public Education. This article aims to examine a recent circuit court ruling regarding the applicability of retrospective…

Positive psychology represents a conceptual framework that emphasizes the need to capitalize on individuals' strengths in order to facilitate optimal functioning. As applied to the educational setting, these concepts have primarily been investigated via teaching life skills to students that encourage overall wellness. School-based strategies…

School attendance is a rising issue in public schools. Students regularly absent from school can end up involved in destructive behaviors and dropout of school. Family characteristics are strong determining factors in students' school attendance. This presents the question, "Can family involvement improve public school students'…

The authors report findings of a best-evidence synthesis of the effects of mathematics instruction on the mathematics skills of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The goal of the synthesis was to extend previous research by (a) detailing independent variables, instructional components, and outcome measures for each study; (b)…

This article aimed to review the literature and examine and compare the effects of choral and individual responding. Six studies met inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Participants in the study comprise students with various disabilities, male and female, and between pre-K and 12th grade. Results indicate a generally positive…

Although early reading instruction focuses on phonemic awareness and the alphabetic principle, research indicates that reading comprehension strategies can be effectively taught to young students. Peer-reviewed studies that employed experimental or quasi-experimental designs and included children between the ages of five and nine, some of whom had…

This article synthesizes the current research in the area of school transitions for all students from junior high to high school and the effect of the transitions on students. The authors discuss current common high school transition practices and make recommendations for high school transition programming. The authors present a case study…

The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) requires that all students, including those with disabilities, to make adequate yearly progress in the general education curriculum. To ensure that this occurs, effective practices are needed that fit the classroom needs of teachers and result in improved academic gains. One practice that shows promise as an…

Using the LexisNexis database, the authors examined 99 court cases on students--who were 3-21 years of age and with various forms of autism spectrum disorder--between 2007 and 2008. The authors coded and analyzed procedural and substantive violations to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act and the provision of a Free and Appropriate…

In this study, the authors conducted a survey of nationally certified school psychologists (NCSPs) in Ohio via the Internet. They collected information regarding the beliefs of the NCSPs about the importance of measuring treatment integrity in school-based interventions for children with academic and behavior concerns. The authors collected the…

The display of antisocial behavior by children and youths in America is recognized as one of the most pressing concerns facing educators today. To meet the educational needs of these students while maintaining safe school environments, school districts across the nation have increasingly looked toward alternative educational programs.…

Special education programs that serve at-risk students are facing very real personnel needs that colleges and universities alone cannot meet. Alternative certification programs (ACP) may help meet these needs. Effective university-school district partnership programs that include critical teaching training components may offer an attractive…

The authors take an historical look at the changes in public education leading to the establishment of alternative education programs to help practitioners understand this fast-growing population. Current legislation (IDEA, 2004; NCLB, 2001) mandates that educators hold all students to the same high academic standards. Administrators and teachers…

Some of our most challenging youth are educated in interim, short-, and long-term alternative school settings. Many of those youth have emotional disturbances and learning disabilities and have experienced academic and social failure in other school settings. Federal mandates require teachers to provide mathematics instruction to those students…

In recent years, the number of alternative schools has continued to grow and an increasingly large number of students at-risk for school failure have been enrolled in alternative settings. Critics blame this increase on the fact that the school-aged population has become increasingly diverse, presenting a broad range of issues that the schools…