Ann Nevin

Teacher and Administrator Perceptions of Heterogeneous Education

Perceptions of 680 licensed general and special education teachers and administrators related to the full inclusion of all students, including students with moderate and severe disabilities, were assessed using the Heterogeneous Education Teacher Survey and the Regular Education Initiative Teacher Survey-Revised. Respondents were from 32 school sites judged as providing heterogeneous educational opportunities for all children. Results favored the education of children with disabilities in general education through collaborative relationships among all educators—contradicting previous results suggesting that educators prefer pullout programs. For both general and special educators, administrative support and collaboration were powerful predictors of positive attitudes toward full inclusion.

The Many Faces of Collaborative Planning and Teaching

The rationale for and documented benefits of collaborative planning and teaching are explored in this article. When teachers collaborate on their planning and teaching, they are better able to meet the needs of diverse students and fulfill their legal responsibilities. In addition, the authors describe the multiple ways to collaborate and coteach, including working with students as collaborative partners. Readers are provided with answers to some of the frequently asked questions about collaborative planning and coteaching. The authors describe a method for assessing the effectiveness of teaching teams and provide tips for successful collaborative planning and teaching. The importance of professional development and other forms of administrative support are emphasized. The mutual responsibilities of university personnel preparing future teachers, school administrators, and individual educators are discussed.

Reverse Mainstreaming: Nonhandicapped Students in Special Education Classrooms

The present study compared interventions from the schema and generative learning traditions, evaluating the interventions with both narrative and expository material. Targeting low-comprehending fourth through sixth graders as subjects, the study provided more extensive instruction in comparison to previous studies. Transfer measures (comprehension questions and retells based on new selections) were administered immediately after training and again about two weeks later. Following training, scores were significantly higher, both statistically and educationally. The only significant difference between treatments favored the schema treatment on the expository maintenance test.The present study compared interventions from the schema and generative learning traditions, evaluating the interventions with both narrative and expository material. Targeting low-comprehending fourth through sixth graders as subjects, the study provided more extensive instruction in comparison to previous studies. Transfer measures (comprehension questions and retells based on new selections) were administered immediately after training and again about two weeks later. Following training, scores were significantly higher, both statistically and educationally. The only significant difference between treatments favored the schema treatment on the expository maintenance test.

A Review of Self-Determination Literature Implications for Practitioners

A review of the published literature on self-determination and self-advocacy was conducted to determine implications for practitioners who are interested in implementing various curricula. Articles on self-determination and self-advocacy published between 1992 and 1999 were reviewed. None of these articles were directly related to student-led Individualized Education Programs. Results of the research studies documenting the impact on developing curricula for self-determination are described.

Instilling Collaboration for Inclusive Schooling as a Way of Doing Business in Public Schools

This article provides a broad overview of the concepts of collaboration and inclusive schooling within the context of rapid change in public education. the authors examine the current definitions of collaboration and inclusive schooling. they review various rationale for collaboration, current legislation related to collaboration in schools, and the recent research (1989 to 1995) on the effectiveness of collaboration in achieving the outcomes mandated by the individuals with disabilities education act (idea). in addition, they discuss major barriers to and facilitators of effective collaboration and make several recommendations for the supports needed to establish a collaborative ethic and collaborative behavior in public schools. the authors argue that collaboration can no longer be considered a voluntary act.

A Four-Year Evaluation of Consulting Teacher Service

This study evaluated the effects of consulting teacher service on the reading and math achievement of mildly handicapped children. Results of a four-year comparison of three schools with service and three schools without service indicate significantly greater child achievement gains achieved in the service schools the first year, and that these gains were maintained for the remaining three years of the projects.1

A Mixed Methodology Analysis of Co-Teacher Assessments

A mixed methodology approach was used to study the relationship between general and special educators who were co-teaching. On two co-teacher assessment instruments, sums of ratings from special educators and general elementary and secondary educators in an urban multicultural school district in the southeastern USA were similar to those obtained from a sample of early childhood specialists and early childhood educators co-teaching in Hawaii. The highest rated items on the two assessment instruments were similar in content. Interviews and observations with a subset of survey respondents corroborated the survey items. Overall, the follow-up interviews and observations corroborated and instantiated the co-teacher ratings on the survey items. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

Effects of group and individual contingencies on academic performance and social relations of special needs students.

Summary The effects of individual and group contingencies were studied on achievement, appropriate classroom behavior, acceptance of handicapped peers, and self-esteem of academically and socially handicapped students. Four studies are reported, focusing on the following: four first-graders, 11 seventh-graders, five ninth-graders, and five first-graders. All were low-achieving, special needs students, many of whom were seeing special education teachers due to their disruptive classroom behavior and alienation of their peers. In all studies, group-contingency procedures were compared to individual-contingency procedures or no-contingency procedures. Different operationalizations of group-contingency procedures were used in each study. The studies were conducted in different school districts at different times of the year. Variations of A-B-A designs were used in the studies. The results are consistent, indicating that group contingencies (compared with individual contingencies or no contingencies at all) p...

Listen to the Voices of Foreign Language Student Teachers: Implications for Foreign Language Educators

The purpose of this paper is to better understand how critical pedagogy and multicultural education can help meet the challenges that world language teachers experience in the teaching of culture. The authors believe that eliciting and understanding the voices of foreign language student teachers is essential to help them learn to mediate their own learning and prepare to teach a multiculturally diverse population in 21st century classrooms. Foreign-language professors may be encouraged to respect and facilitate the struggles involved in acquiring and teaching other languages by incorporating principles of critical pedagogy and techniques from multicultural education.

Inclusive global education: implications for social justice

Purpose – The overarching purpose of this paper is to empower K‐12 educators, colleagues in teacher education programs, and educational leadership personnel to address social justice issues within communities where divergent perspectives abound.Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a discursive method to uncover the historical and theoretical differences between global education and inclusive education, identify the ways in which the two fields are complementary, and propose strategies for education leadership personnel that build on the commonalities and best practices of both fields.Findings – The authors argue that the two fields have essential elements that can and should inform each other. They term this intersection “inclusive global education”. They integrate the concepts from global education and inclusive education to define inclusive global education as a pedagogical and curricular stance, a way to honor the diverse cultural, linguistic, physical, mental, and cognitive complexities of al...