Although effective practices have been developed to address the needs of a wide range of students with disabilities, evidence suggests a limited use of these practices. Potential contributors to the research-to-practice gap focus on problems with pre-service teacher preparation, professional development, and the nature of research. The authors…

Video modeling interventions involve a child watching videotapes of positive examples of adults, peers, or him- or herself engaging in a behavior that is being taught. The purpose of this review was to examine empirical studies in which video modeling interventions were applied to individuals with autism. Nineteen studies published between 1985…

A random sample of 167 secondary special and general educators who taught math to students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and learning disabilities (LD) responded to a mail survey. The survey examined teacher perceptions of (a) definition of math; (b) familiarity with course topics; (c) effectiveness of methods courses; (d)…

Since the 1970s, Italy has had a national policy of integrating nearly all students with disabilities into the general education classroom. As a result, many advocates of inclusion in the United States have identified Italy as an excellent example of how wide-range inclusion can be accomplished. However, some U.S. and Italian educators have…

Fifty-nine students enrolled in 4 inclusive world history classes in a suburban high school participated in a within participants research design to compare the relative effects of mnemonic strategies and direct instruction on academic performance. Regularly assigned high school teachers delivered instruction during history class periods. Keywords…

This article reviewed 55 studies to examine trends in interventions to improve the academic functioning of students with emotional disturbance. Results of descriptive analysis indicated: lack of demographic information; settings usually special education classrooms; predominantly single-subject designs; lack of treatment fidelity data; lack of…

This synthesis of data based articles about co-teaching between general and special education personnel found, of 89 articles reviewed, only 6 provided sufficient quantitative information for an effect size to be calculated. Effect sizes and dependent measures varied widely. Results indicate the need for further research to substantiate the…

This study compared the motivational determinants of 258 low and high elementary grade readers in Greece within the framework of planned behavior theory. Low performing readers exhibited significantly lower perceptions of goal importance, intention to achieve, belief strength, outcome evaluation, and normative beliefs. The planned behavior model…

This study examined which purposes for report card grades that 157 parents of general and special education students perceived as important and then evaluated how effectively these purposes are achieved. Overall, parents felt report card grades were not very effective in meeting important purposes. Significant differences were found between…

This paper considers nonempirical trends in Western thought and applies them to special education. Critical theory, postmodernism (a world view), and narrative as a form of interpretive research are introduced. A discussion and accompanying table identify characteristics of good qualitative research. (DB)

Special education research is entering a multiparadigmatic stage, with four major models: (1) critical constructivism, (2) critical functionalism, (3) constructivism, and 4) functionalism. These lie in the four quadrants of a matrix, with axes going from conflict to consensus and from subjectivity to objectivity. Applications to student…

This paper reviews how sociocultural theory conceptualizes teaching and learning, fundamental constructs of the theory and methodology, and basic guidelines for discourse analysis. It applies these concepts to three research areas: the social construction of disability, contingent instruction between adults and learners, and miscommunication…

This article reviews the theoretical assumptions and methodological orientations of phenomenology and contrasts it with the logical positivist model used in the natural sciences. It applies these concepts to research in special education. (DB)

This article describes action-oriented teacher research in which teachers use information students reveal about the competent aspects of their lives as learners to direct their teaching efforts. The article notes methodological considerations of this approach and applications to the study of special education. (Author/DB)

This article suggests the use of structural equation modeling in special education research, to analyze multivariate data from both nonexperimental and experimental research. It combines a structural model linking latent variables and a measurement model linking observed variables with latent variables. (Author/DB)