Stephen D. Kroeger

Using Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies to Increase Response to Intervention in Inclusive Middle Math Settings

fied learning disability, was extremely social. Her friends were her life, and school gave her access to her friends. Friendships were important to her; she was good with people. At the start of the year, Katie wasn’t interested in math—she rarely participated. Her stock response to her math teacher was, “Who cares?” As the year progressed, math increasingly engaged her attention and interest. Katie explained, “I like PALS because you can help people understand and if I’m confused about something, or I didn’t know what I was doing wrong, my pal would help me.” Later in the year, she even prepared a PowerPoint presentation on peer-assisted learning strategies to assist her teachers in a regional middle school educator conference.

Creating a Sense of Ownership in the IEP Process.

Stephen D. Kroeger Cynthia K. Leibold Betsy Ryan Mark has just been identified with severe emotional disturbance. His parents are only vaguely familiar with a program in their local public school. Mark is moving from his home school to a school that has a unit for students who have been identified with a severe behavior disability. Marks parents are afraid that the adults involved in his education will have a tendency to focus on the negative aspects of their child. Teachers and the administrative staff at Marks new school have no experience with Mark, though they have read the multifactored evaluation in the past week. Several people are present at the team meeting that will write Marks individualized education program (IEP): the student, several educators from the home school, student advocates, Marks parents, and the new school personnel. What is the most effective way to create a sense of ownership on the part of all who have gathered? How can this student, who has been identified with a specific learning challenge, become an authentic participant in writing this document?

Stone soup: using co-teaching and Photovoice to support inclusive education

The purpose of this action research project was to increase the local educational system’s capacity to teach to greater student diversity across all grades through the use of Photovoice and co-teaching. Teacher education programs in the United States have reflected a historical legacy of separation according to student achievement and were organized in discrete and independent fashions. Barriers to collaboration now appear in even greater relief due to recent changes in US educational laws. Faculty and doctoral students from multiple programs in the School of Education, along with field supervisors, student-teachers and cooperating teachers, participated in an action research project to develop innovative strategies for integrating teacher preparation programs. Using Photovoice and co-teaching, investigators identified themes discovered in the data. Results indicated that collaboration benefits our student-teachers and the pupils they will teach. Recommendations for change are discussed.

A Review of the Effectiveness of Guided Notes for Students who Struggle Learning Academic Content

The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) requires that all students, including those with disabilities, to make adequate yearly progress in the general education curriculum. To ensure that this occurs, effective practices are needed that fit the classroom needs of teachers and result in improved academic gains. One practice that shows promise as an effective classroom practice is guided notes. The purpose of this article is to examine research on the effectiveness of guided notes. For this review, 13 studies met inclusion criteria. Results indicate that using guided notes has a positive effective on student outcomes, as this practice has been shown to improve accuracy of note taking and student test scores. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for classroom practice and future research.

Integrating Evidence-Based Practices in Middle Science Reading.

cern for students who are struggling or reluctant readers (Higgins, Boone, & Lovitt, 2002). The challenge is most significant in the content areas, with textbooks that are often beyond the reading level of those students, that include new vocabulary, and that are not organized in an intuitive way (Baker, Gersten, & Grossen, 2002). Reading science text is perhaps most challenging because of its many new concepts and words. A significant gap also exists between the previous knowledge of the student and the new information introduced in the class. Furthermore, constructing new knowledge often depends on the student’s understanding what he or she has read (Barton, Heidema, & Jordan, 2002), so the student who struggles with reading

Positive Behavior Support Assessment Guide Creating Student-Centered Behavior Plans

Educators from four states participated in a pilot study to enhance and field-test an assessment guide for assisting teams in creating student-centered behavior plans. The assessment guide attempts to consciously match the multilayered tenets of positive behavior support with the behavioral intervention and support process for maximum effectiveness. The guide is a map that assists a teaching team in considering all relevant aspects of a supportive behavior plan to help the student succeed in the school environment and beyond.

A Case Study of Positive Behavior Supports-Based Interventions in a Seventh-Grade Urban Classroom.

Struggling with frequent off-task behavior, a teacher in a midwestern inner-city high school requested assistance in her social studies classroom. A study was designed to investigate if a combination of positive behavior supports-based interventions such as behavior-specific praise and reduced teacher reprimands might improve on-task behavior. A classroom-wide, explanatory embedded case study was carried out over three months in a high-poverty urban 7–12 high school. The intervention resulted in increased on-task behavior classwide. Implications for culturally responsive practices for students in an urban classroom setting are discussed.

Active Supervision, Precorrection, and Explicit Timing: A High School Case Study on Classroom Behavior

One proactive approach to increasing student engagement in schools is implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) strategies. PBIS focuses on prevention and concentrates on quality-of-life issues that include improved academic achievement, enhanced social competence, and safe learning and teaching environments. This study is a replication of a study that investigated the combination of active supervision, precorrection, and explicit timing. The purpose of the study was to decrease student problem behavior, reduce transition time, and support maintenance of the intervention in the setting. Results show that active supervision, precorrection, and explicit timing decreased student problem behavior, decreased the duration of transitions in two instructional periods, and the intervention was maintained in the setting. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.

You make the road by walking: A case study of partnership and collaboration

A Sage expression, you make the road by walking, captures the nature of accompaniment in partnership development. The purpose of this action research project was to examine the partnership of a city school and an urban university as one that engaged mutual generation of knowledge from all participants. Action research, where participants are coequals in decision making, enhances the co-construction of knowledge and applied practice when stakeholders work to achieve more practical goals. Two high school co-instructors and a university faculty member examined what initially brought them together—a classroom instructional need. While designing and implementing an investigation of the use of class instructional time, they simultaneously conducted a self-study action research project about the dynamics of their partnership and how to improve it. Critical interviews revealed challenges to integrating research findings into practice as well as convergent benefits of partnership development that may be relevant to partnerships of all kinds.

Toward Active Partnership: Notice of Procedural Safeguards Designed for Parent Use:

Procedural safeguards have been in place for years with the intention of protecting the rights of parents and their children with disabilities. Despite the promises of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, parents have not mastered the tools they need to be active participants in their child’s special education. Educators must inform parents of children with disabilities of their rights and responsibilities in documents that clearly communicate the expectation that parents can and will advocate for their children. Review of the documents currently used to inform parents of their rights, as well as relevant literature on the topic, indicated that parents are not empowered to give informed consent. This study sought to talk directly with parents of children with disabilities to explore whether a redesigned notice of procedural safeguards document is warranted and could support parents’ engagement in their child’s special education. Interview data collected demonstrated that parents of children with disabilities see a need for revised documents and need functional information from the schools. The implementation of rights notices that authentically inform parents could bring about a shift in the culture of special education and include all parents as active participants in their child’s special education.