Aydin Bal

Post-traumatic stress disorder symptom clusters in Turkish child and adolescent trauma survivors

This study identified post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom clusters in Turkish children and adolescents who experienced the 1999 Marmara Earthquake, which was classified as one of the world’s six deadliest earthquakes in the 20th century. Two hundred ninety three children and adolescents (152 females and 141 males between the ages of 8 and 15) living in Izmit, the epicenter of the earthquake, participated in this study. The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index for Children (CPTSD-RI) was administered to assess PTSD symptoms. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), using data from the CPTSD-RI, was conducted to determine whether the DSM-IV-TR symptom structure of PTSD was valid in Turkish children and adolescents. The CFA model supported the three-symptom cluster model. Limitations and implications for future research studies are included in the discussion.

The Next Generation of Disproportionality Research Toward a Comparative Model in the Study of Equity in Ability Differences

Minority student disproportionate representation in special education has been debated and (increasingly) studied in the United States for the past 40 years. The purpose of this article is to place this problem in the larger arena of equity studies related to difference in educational practice and propose a comparative model to study it. A first step in the creation of a comparative interdisciplinary paradigm is the publication of this special series. The authors theorize the disproportionality problem and critique U.S. research on the topic before introducing the articles included in this issue, which cover six nations on four continents. The authors conclude with a discussion of key themes to include in the next generation of comparative interdisciplinary research on disproportionality.

Back to the future: A critique of response to intervention's social justice views

The emergence of Response to Intervention (RTI) anticipates a different future for all students, particularly learners from racial minority backgrounds and students with disabilities. RTI is being widely adopted in school districts as a viable alternative to enhance learning opportunities; hence, some education scholars argue it promises a much-needed response to longstanding injustices for underserved students. RTI aims to address injustices in the distribution of educational opportunities and recognition of underserved groups of students. The authors identify the underlying views of social justice that permeate RTI and conclude with a closer look at RTIs justice claims embedded in some implementation procedures. They propose it is important to revisit the anticipated future promised by RTI through the refinement of the social justice perspectives used in this literature.

Systemic Transformation from the Ground–Up: Using Learning Lab to Design Culturally Responsive Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Supports

The enduring existence of disproportionate representation of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in special education programs and disciplinary practices creates a double bind for educators, educational leaders, and families. Disproportionality is an adaptive systemic issue that is not under any entity’s control; thus, it demands collaboration and critical dialogue among local stakeholders. This article examined the implementation of Learning Lab, a new methodology of systemic transformation, for local stakeholders to collectively examine and address disproportionality in behavioral outcomes from the ground–up. Learning Lab aims to increase equity within the local implementations of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) by opening up decision-making and problem-solving processes with local stakeholders. Designed to increase authentic collaboration and dialogue among educators, families, and community-based organizations, Learning Lab offers the possibility of contextually fit, culturally responsive implementations of PBIS and building the capacity for forming adaptive and inclusive schools.

Development and Preliminary Analysis of a Rubric for Culturally Responsive Research

Researchers and practitioners have struggled to promote optimal academic, behavioral, and postschool outcomes for historically marginalized youth from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. While there is a growing body of evidence-based interventions in special education, the extent to which these interventions are culturally responsive remains unexplored. Culturally responsive research (CRR) has gained increased attention in social sciences. The authors developed a 15-item rubric to evaluate the cultural responsiveness of research. They applied the rubric to six studies in transition education identified as high-quality intervention studies to determine the extent to which these met the criteria for CRR. Results from this analysis demonstrated that while none of the studies were indicative of CRR across all rubric items, strengths in question relevancy, sampling, participant description, and data collection strategies were noted.

A Situated Analysis of Special Education Disproportionality for Systemic Transformation in an Urban School District

The disproportionate representation of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in special education programs is a complex issue that has long troubled practitioners, educational leaders, and researchers. This article reports on a mixed-method collaborative case analysis that examined local patterns of disproportionality in an urban school district and the district’s systemic transformation effort to address disproportionality. In a close collaboration with the district’s special education leadership team, we utilized student-level quantitative data from 2006 through 2010 to examine temporal patterns of disproportionality along with qualitative data on the leadership team’s perceptions and actions. Our analyses showed that risk of overidentification was greatest for African American, American Indian, low-income, and male students. The study illustrates a method of collaborative analysis and the importance of such analyses for understanding and addressing variously localized patterns of disproportionality. The findings contribute to the literature on disproportionality and inform systemic change efforts in diverse sociocultural contexts of urban school districts.

Beyond Culture as Group Traits: Future Learning Disabilities Ontology, Epistemology, and Inquiry on Research Knowledge Use

The construct of culture has been largely invisible in the research and long-standing debates in the learning disabilities (LD) field, such as those pertaining to the definition of LD and how research knowledge is used in local settings. When used, the idea of culture tends to be defined as unrelated to LD and studied as restricted to individual/group traits. We challenge the culture–LD dichotomy and the limited conception of culture used in this knowledge base. For this purpose, we make the case for a cultural model of learning that can inform scholarship about the nature of LD, and we propose a culture-based model for the study of research knowledge use in professional practices. Moreover, we offer a third perspective on culture to study the strategies that the LD research community might be using to demarcate and maintain a cultureless paradigm of LD. Our discussion offers potentially rich opportunities for a culturally minded and reflexive stance in the LD field that is urgently needed in our increasingly diverse society.

Evidence-based Interventions for Immigrant Students Experiencing Behavioral and Academic Problems: A Systematic Review of the Literature

The purpose of the present research review is to identify effective, high quality school-based interventions for immigrant students with disabilities or academic and behavioral problems. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to synthesize international research studies. Initial and criteria-based selection processes yielded six intervention studies published between 1975 and 2010. Two of the studies are academic interventions while four are behavioral interventions. Three studies were conducted in the United States while the remaining three in Israel, Canada, and Norway. The identified studies were evaluated against the quality indicators of special education research. Three experimental studies met the minimum criteria for acceptable methodological rigor. The results show an urgent need for methodologically robust intervention studies in the field of special education for immigrant students. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Culturally Responsive Experimental Intervention Studies The Development of a Rubric for Paradigm Expansion

Neither legislative demand for evidence-based practices nor a focus on experimental designs for educational interventions has ameliorated the disparate educational opportunities and outcomes for youth from nondominant cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Recent initiatives to increase the rigor of intervention research in special education have largely ignored the implications of culture and its role in experimental research. The extent to which the experimental intervention studies are culturally responsive remains unexplored. We developed a rubric, modeled after prior rubrics for quality indicators of special education research, identifying criteria for culturally responsive research. Rubric items were created following a systematic review of literature and gathering feedback from experts. The 15-item rubric uses culture as a generative concept that mediates each aspect of experimental intervention research. Implications include expanding the field’s dominant empirical paradigm and increasing reflexivity and responsivity in knowledge production that may contribute to a paradigm expansion in special education research.

Ahıska Refugee Families’ Configuration of Resettlement and Academic Success in U.S. Schools:

In this article, we report on an ethnographic study of figured worlds of resettlement and identities that Muslim refugee youth from the Russian Federation coconstructed in an urban school at the Southwestern U.S. border. In the school, multiple cultural-historical discourses came together within a glocal context: refugee families, a global Islamic movement, and deficit-oriented educational ideologies. Three empirically derived themes emerged: Glocal adaptation, multiple literacies, and sticking together. The overall impact of this study derives from two aspects of the analysis: The cultural-historical analysis of refugee resettlement and the hybrid identities of refugee students.