The field of special education has made great strides in identifying interventions that work. These practices have been described as evidence-based because they were effective across numerous studies. However, scholars in the field are also acutely aware that not all evidence-based practices will be equally effective for all children. Because of…

Author-level bibliometrics are one way to measure scholarly contributions. Such metrics are often calculated from journals indexed in the "Web of Science™. Google Scholar" more comprehensively reflects the contributions of special education scholars by including many more social science and education journals. The current study analyzed…

Conducting and supporting scientifically valid research activities and implementing evidence-based practices have driven recent hopes and efforts to achieve better outcomes for all students. In the context of ongoing internal review and continuous improvement, we were interested in how this evolution was reflected in empirical studies published in…

Access to schooling and special education services remains a challenge for many children with disabilities around the world. In the United States, much attention has focused on disproportionality--the over- and underrepresentation of student groups within special education. In this study, to contextualize and better understand the scope and…

Professional ethics in teacher preparation is an area that has received minimal attention in the special education literature. In this systematic review, 18 journals affiliated with the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) were examined for their coverage of professional ethics over a 30-year period (1988-2018). Results showed that an average of…

This article is part of an illustrative study of federal leadership in special education based on interviews with persons who served as Assistant Secretaries in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services and Directors of the Office of Special Education Programs. The perspectives cover the time period…

Gains have been made over the last two decades in how to identify evidence-based practices for students with disabilities, but less progress has been made in ensuring that these interventions are used by classroom teachers. Although it is not the only area that needs to be addressed to bridge this research-to-practice gap, providing high-quality…

Exemplifying the insufficient treatment of legal issues in refereed journals in special education and related fields, the limited legal coverage of functional behavioral assessments (FBAs) and behavior intervention plans (BIPs) tends to view the applicable case law through normative lenses. This skewed view characterizes the case law as requiring…

Children are experiencing abuse and neglect at alarming rates, and reported cases of maltreatment are increasing every year. Furthermore, children are 4 times more likely to receive special education services if they have experienced abuse and neglect. Multiple calls for action to better support children with special needs who have experienced…

In recent years, more than 700,000 children aged 3 through 5 years identified with speech or language impairments (44%), developmental delay (37%), autism (9%), and other disabilities (10%) received federally supported special education services. For our republished article in the inaugural issue of the 50th anniversary volume, we have selected a…

Special education scholars have traditionally experienced a significant disconnect between their experience as researchers and the fast-paced realities of policy and politics. We propose that higher education leaders should be drivers of change, not recipients of outcomes, and by extension, that there is a need to ensure that the preparation of…

School districts in the United States are required to monitor the overrepresentation of students of color in special education, yet recent studies have challenged these trends and suggest students of color may be underrepresented for services guaranteed under federal law. Missing in many of these discussions on disproportionality are the needs of…

This study investigated the relation between grade level, support needs, and use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and the participation of secondary age students with intellectual disability in school-sponsored extracurricular activities. Participants were special education teachers with at least one student with an intellectual…

The middle part of the 1970s marked the beginning of an era of enhanced concern for the education, treatment, and care of individuals with severe disabilities. For our republished article in this issue of the "Journal of Special Education's" ("JSE") 50th anniversary volume, we have selected a piece by Dr. Norris Haring,…

The authors discuss the journal article by Perry Zirkel on legal action in regard to functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and behavior intervention plans (BIPs). They contend that the Zirkel article opens larger questions that will be central to ongoing discussions at the national, state, district, school, and family levels. Such issues include…