Martha Thurlow

Promoting school completion of urban secondary youth with emotional or behavioral disabilities

An experimental research design was used to examine the effectiveness of a targeted, long-term intervention to promote school completion and reduce dropout among urban high school students with emotional or behavioral disabilities. African American (67%) males (82%) composed a large portion of the sample. This intervention study was a replication of an empirically supported model referred to as check & connect. Study participants included 144 ninth graders, randomly assigned to the treatment or control group. The majority of youth were followed for 4 years, with a subsample followed for 5 years. Program outcomes included lower rates of dropout and mobility, higher rates of persistent attendance and enrollment status in school, and more comprehensive transition plans.

Critical Instructional Factors for Students With Mild Handicaps An Integrative Review

Instructional effectiveness is a popular topic, and a crucial one for educating students with mild handicaps. In this paper, the literature on effective instruction is integrated, and implications for instructing students with handicaps are provided. Based on the instructional effectiveness data base and research on quantity and quality of instruction for different categories of students, the authors contend that systematic use of an organized instructional cycle characterized by match, structure, and monitoring is needed to improve academic outcomes for students with mild handicaps.

Five of the Most Frequently Allowed Testing Accommodations in State Policy: Synthesis of Research

In the past, students with disabilities were frequently excluded from statewide testing. With changes in federal laws, states are seeking ways to increase the participation of students with disabilities in testing. Many have developed lists of allowable accommodations to facilitate participation. Although there has been an increase in research on how accommodations can aid in the measurement of skills among students with disabilities, many questions remain unanswered. The degree to which accommodations may compromise the integrity of tests is not clear. As a result, accommodation decision making is difficult. A review of research on 5 frequently allowed test accommodations (dictated response, large print, Braille, extended time, and sign language interpreter for instructions) was conducted; 36 studies were identified. Results indicate mixed support and nonsupport for providing these accommodations to students with disabilities. Guidelines for effective accommodation decision making and administration are discussed, and recommendations for future research are given.

High-Stakes Testing of Students with Disabilities

States and districts are required by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (Public Law 105-17) to have students with disabilities participate in state and district assessments and to report on their performance. High-stakes testing is a significant part of standardsbased reform and educational accountability. However, there are both intended and unintended consequences of high-stakes testing on students with disabilities. There is the potential for these assessments to result in many benefits for students with disabilities, but educators need to know about the ways to ensure that this happens. Participation on Individualized Education Plan teams, good decisions about accommodations and alternate assessments, and careful thought about diploma options and related issues can help students realize the benefits of high-stakes testing.

Current Assessment and Decision-Making Practices in Model LD Programs

Data from questionnaires completed by 44 Child Service Demonstration Centers were analyzed. Information was provided on the number of children served, the LD definition used, the kinds of assessment data collected and the purpose for which they were used, the specific assessment devices used to collect data and the purpose for which they were used, the typical composition of the placement team, and the major sequential steps in the assessment/decision-making process. Results suggested that assessment and decision making in the field of learning disabilities are characterized by variability and inconsistency. The implications of the findings for current assessment practices are summarized.

Positive Educational Results for All Students The Promise of Standards-Based Reform

Standards-based reform has swept the nation, carrying with it many promises, including obtaining a more accurate picture of education overall and when comparing schools and districts, providing benefits for students with disabilities who take part in state and district assessments, decreasing the number of inappropriate referrals to special education, and promoting high expectations for many students who have not before been held to high standards. These potential benefits for students with disabilities are supported by federal laws (e.g., Title I, IDEA) that require access to the general education curriculum and the participation of students with disabilities in state and district assessments. Attaining the goals of standards-based education for students with disabilities, however, remains a challenge in three ways: reaching agreement that content and performance standards should apply to all students, including students with disabilities; determining how to extend existing assessment systems to students who may need accommodations or other modifications; and translating assessment results into instructional changes and interventions. The author proposes several ways to address each of these challenges so that students with disabilities achieve positive educational results as part of current standards-based reforms.

Meeting the Challenge of Transition Service Planning through Improved Interagency Cooperation

The improvement of transition services through effective management strategies in service planning and coordination is proposed. Current barriers to effective service planning and coordination are discussed. Included among these are conflicting policy goals, eligibility criteria, funding patterns across agencies, and an inconsistent national policy. Three major approaches to overcoming barriers to effective service planning are proposed. All require that present approaches to interagency service planning and coordination of services be changed.

Instructional planning: information collected by school psychologists vs. information considered useful by teachers ☆

Abstract A limited national sample of 49 school psychologists and 30 regular education teachers provided information on assessment for the purpose of instructional planning. School psychologists listed the types of information they most often collected for this purpose and teachers listed the types of information considered most useful for this purpose. While some indications of agreement were found between school psychologists and teachers, there were also several inconsistencies in the views of the two groups regarding assessment procedures for instructional planning. The findings are discussed in light of empirical evidence on the contribution of various types of assessment data to instructional planning.

Testing Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

With a national reform agenda that includes all american students and federal legislation barring job discrimination against individuals with disabilities, concerns have mounted about how to accurately assess persons with disabilities. including these individuals in the assessment process often requires the modification of tests and testing procedures. along with these modifications come many complicated issues. this article reviews the literature pertaining to testing accommodations for people with disabilities. we address policy and legal considerations, existing standards, research on current practice, and research on technical concerns. we examine the relatively limited set of empirical studies on accommodations and assessments (many of which were conducted by test publishers) and recommend a significant program of research on testing accommodations for students with disabilities.

Assessment practices in special education: Adequacy and appropriateness

Current assessment practices in special education must be examined in terms of their appropriateness as well as their technical adequacy. Assessment is an integral pan of special education in decisions related to referral, eligibility/classification, intervention, and evaluation. This article examines the adequacy and appropriateness of two measurement methodologies being used in special education to make decisions about mildly handicapped students: norm‐referenced and continuous‐monitoring. An alternative approach that reflects a blending of the norm‐referenced and continuous‐monitoring approaches, referred to as a modified norm‐reference approach, is proposed as a way to maximize technical adequacy and appropriateness of assessment in special education. Instructional diagnosis and pre‐referral interventions are key aspects of the modified norm‐referenced approach. Increasing the relevance of assessment data to instructional decisions is presented as a primary requisite for maximizing the appropriateness...