Through time-series graphs, teachers often evaluate progress monitoring data to make both low- and high-stakes decisions for students. The construction of these graphs--specifically, the presence of an aimline and the data points per x- to y-axis ratio (DPPXYR)--may impact decisions teachers make. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the…

Schools rely heavily on paraeducators to support the delivery of special education services for students with disabilities (SWDs). However, paraeducators often lack formal training in implementing evidence-based practices. Traditional methods of professional development are not effective at producing long-term changes in classroom staff. Prior…

Students with disabilities are served by both special and general educators, yet teachers often feel unprepared to meet the needs of these students in their classrooms. Using data from a nationally representative survey, we examined the sufficiency of teachers' access to supports available for meeting the needs of students with high-incidence…

The International Dyslexia Association estimates that on average, as many as 15% to 20% of the population may display symptoms of dyslexia, which include inaccurate or laborious reading, and weak spelling and writing. Unfortunately, many individuals with dyslexia have found themselves surrounded by school and community members who do not…

Content-focused practice-based professional development (PBPD) with active learning is one avenue to support teachers in learning new strategies, practices, and programs. This type of professional development moves away from traditional lectures. In this descriptive study, the authors used a pre-post group design to examine the extent to which a…

Classroom Pivotal Response Teaching (CPRT) is a naturalistic behavioral intervention for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that was systematically adapted for teacher use. In this study, the authors evaluate outcomes of a large randomized trial training teachers (n = 126) to use CPRT. Training involved 12 hours of small group sessions…

In this study, the authors examine the learning of 48 preservice teachers (PSTs) taking a literacy course in special education and the primary-grade struggling readers they tutored in a field component of the course. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the effects of the course and tutoring on PSTs' knowledge and…

The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the level of skills and training needs reported by special educators and teaching associates in functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and behavioral interventions within special education (SPED) schools in Singapore. The Skills and Needs Inventories in Functional Behavior Assessments and…

Making data-based decisions is a pervasive expectation for educators and is linked to improved outcomes for students. Observational data collection for progress monitoring, in particular, can help educators track and support students' progress toward individualized educational goals in inclusive settings. Yet, many educators struggle with data…

Childhood emotional and behavioral problems are prevalent in elementary classroom settings, making it imperative that high-quality, efficacious training be available to support teachers in managing disruptive and distressed child behaviors. Our study used a randomized control design to examine the impact of 36 hours of preservice education…

Teachers make numerous decisions each day, yet processes undergirding these decisions are elusive and have not been the subject of many in-depth investigations within special education. The purpose of this qualitative investigation, therefore, was to complete a micro-level analysis of the influence of curriculum on 11 middle school teachers'…

In today's autistic-support classrooms, paraeducators are tasked with working with our neediest students yet report that they are unprepared for their roles despite attempts at training. The special education teachers who are tasked with coaching and supervising several paraeducators at a time in their classrooms report that they too are…

Educator preparation in comprehension strategy instruction (CSI) is essential to meeting the needs of English learners (ELs) in contemporary schools. This article provides teacher educators and professional developers with concrete examples of practices to prepare classroom teachers in comprehensive strategy instruction, based on an experimental…

Improving inclusive middle school science teachers' vocabulary instruction is a critical step toward helping those professionals support the learning needs of all students. In this Institute of Education Sciences (IES)-funded project, inclusive science teachers received professional development using elements of a multimedia-based approach called…

Difficulty managing classroom behavior is a frequently recognized problem for teachers, especially teachers early in their careers. Classroom rules are identified as an integral part of effective classroom management as they are relatively simple to implement and focus on preventing challenging behaviors before they occur. Sources such as…