Growing numbers of students are educated in charter schools, including students with disabilities (SWD). Prior research suggests that charter schools educate a smaller percentage of SWD than traditional public schools, leading to a special education gap between sectors. We used data from a large urban district to examine how choice, mobility, and…

Shifts in special education over the last 25 years have increased the pressure on special education teacher preparation programs to improve the quality of opportunities to learn provided to teacher candidates. One aspect of quality that has not been extensively explored in the literature is the interaction between the individual candidate--the…

With this position paper, we advance the case for reformation of U.S. special education law and praxis. These have undergone mostly incremental changes over the five decades since their inception despite a substantial body of evidence amassed over this period, which points to a major gap between extant policy and praxis, and contemporary cultural…

Open-science reforms, which aim to increase credibility and access of research, have the potential to benefit the research base in special education, as well as practice and policy informed by that research base. Awareness of open science is increasing among special education researchers. However, relatively few researchers in the field have…

Special education policy and scholarship have increasingly emphasized the use of research that encompasses interdependent methodological approaches designed to address specific questions. Consequently, the knowledge available to practitioners, policymakers, and other consumers is a function of the research designs featured in the literature. This…

Open-access (OA) options, including preprints and postprints, provide free access to research, accelerate the dissemination of academic work, are associated with increased impact of scholarly work, and may aid in dissemination of null results. However, OA publishing is not an established practice for many special education researchers, and journal…

Many children with disabilities receive the majority of their instruction in the general education classroom where many universal programs are implemented. It is therefore important to examine the impact of evidence-based universal interventions on children with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the Incredible Years…

It is crucial that special education teachers are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. Despite federal legislation and efforts of the field to identify and disseminate evidence-based practices for students with disabilities, it is uncertain whether all special education teachers…

The field of special education is recognized for conducting research designed to improve the quality of life for the children and families we serve. However, our field has been criticized for empirical approaches that are inconsistent with the values and beliefs we articulate as central to our scientific practice. As such, a shift in our research…

This study explored relationships between special education personnel absences and demographic, policy, and practice variables to identify potential actions that could increase access to qualified personnel and continuity of instruction. Findings from 51 inclusion-oriented schools indicated that special educators and special education…

Special education teacher (SET) persistence and attrition have been investigated for several decades. However, there are several predictors for SETs' intent to stay or leave that are yet to be investigated. Using Bandura's social cognitive theory, we developed the Special Education Teacher Persistence in Teaching Survey (SETPTS) and examined…

In 2015, the National Goals Conference for and with people with intellectual disability encouraged the field of special education to recruit and retain more Black teachers. In this grounded theory study, 18 Black men were interviewed to learn more about experiences surrounding recruitment and retention in special education teacher-preparation…

Mixed methods research is a robust and growing methodology in many fields, including education. We drew upon the influential work of Greene et al., Ivankova and Kawamura, and Alise and Teddlie to explore the landscape of published mixed methods research in special education. We conducted a systematic literature review of 15 top-ranked journals in…

Communication difficulties between immigrant families who are non-native English speakers and special education professionals lead to unsuccessful family-professional partnerships. Such difficulties are often attributed to families' low English proficiency or to limited access to quality language services. Other sources of partnership issues are…

The current review examined the prevalence of the adapted alternating treatments design (AATD) across 22 special education journals and methods to equate and assign target sets to experimental conditions in the AATD. Since the seminal description of the design in 1985, a total of 49 articles were published using the AATD across 12 of the reviewed…