Direct Instruction (DI)

Considerable research in the past 30 years has accumulated regarding the academic and social functioning of youngsters with disabilities. Only in the past decade has there been sufficient special education research published from which meta-analyses and syntheses can be conducted. In this volume, seven sets of authors grapple with synthesizing the knowledge base on an array of critical topics in the field of special education. Among others, specific chapters include: * a synthesis of what is known about effective instructional grouping practices for reading. * an examination of the differences between students classified as learning disabled and other low-achieving students on a range of academic performance measures. * a review of effective instruction for English-language learners. * an examination of the research on behavioral supports for low-incidence special education populations. * a synthesis on how technology supports literary development, across the full spectrum of disabilities categories. These papers provide up-to-date, informative summaries of current knowledge and a base from which further venture into the critical area of instructional intervention in special education can occur.

This book takes the reader inside the charter school movement, answering such questions as: *What is a charter school? *How are charter schools different from other public schools? *What does it take to create a charter school? *What motivates the people who initiate such schools? *What lessons can be learned from the experiences of those who have founded charter schools? *What does the growth of the charter school movement mean for society at large? Using detailed case studies of seven schools in three states, this book explores the challenges faced by the founders of these schools and develops guidelines for creating a successful school. Seymour Sarason's work on the creation of settings is used as a basis for examining the complex human interactions that contributed to formation of a unique culture at each school, as well as to establish guidelines for setting up a successful school. Introductory and concluding chapters place the charter school movement within a broader social and historical context. Tensions between the American tradition of local control of schools and the centralized tradition of schooling imported from Europe in the late 19th century are discussed. The gradual bureaucratization of U.S. public schools during the 20th century is described, along with problems that have been associated with the increasingly hierarchical and impersonal nature of educational institutions.

"There is no more definitive, and readable, account of why we have witnessed a huge increase of reading-disabled studentsand why we are mostly wrong in framing this and many other academic problems as a disability. Spear-Swerling and Sternberg masterfully demonstrate the disconnects between scientific evidence about poor reading and the views pushed by large parts of the learning disabiliyt industry. . . . A must-read for educators and a should-read for everyone interested in education".Albert Shanker, President, American Federation of Teachers.