Enhancing Partnerships in Special Education


Book Description

This book provides readers with a comprehensive description of procedures and practices that can enhance special education collaboration, consultation and cooperation in classroom learning environments and ancillary educational services. Experts in the field of special education provide detailed information on critical topics such as fostering the collaboration between regular education and special education teachers. Detailed discussions also focus on the role of mental health providers in special education, and the innovative use of technology in enhancing partnerships in general and special education. Unique chapters include the psychologist in the special education process, the role of the government as a partner to enhance special education services, and the vital role that principals play as school leaders to insure that special education students garner the necessary services to maximize their learning potential. Lastly, the critical roles that speech and language and physical education specialists play are discussed with regard to optimizing the overall development of students with special needs.




School, Family, and Community Partnerships


Book Description

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.




High-leverage Practices in Special Education


Book Description

Special education teachers, as a significant segment of the teaching profession, came into their own with the passage of Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, in 1975. Since then, although the number of special education teachers has grown substantially it has not kept pace with the demand for their services and expertise. The roles and practice of special education teachers have continuously evolved as the complexity of struggling learners unfolded, along with the quest for how best to serve and improve outcomes for this diverse group of students. High-Leverage Practices in Special Education defines the activities that all special educators needed to be able to use in their classrooms, from Day One. HLPs are organized around four aspects of practice collaboration, assessment, social/emotional/behavioral practices, and instruction because special education teachers enact practices in these areas in integrated and reciprocal ways. The HLP Writing Team is a collaborative effort of the Council for Exceptional Children, its Teacher Education Division, and the CEEDAR Center; its members include practitioners, scholars, researchers, teacher preparation faculty, and education advocates--Amazon.com




Educational Partnerships


Book Description

Supporting teachers in building partnerships with families and the broader community This comprehensive text helps prepare pre-service and in-service teachers to build and sustain family, school, and community partnerships that are vital to student success. Focusing on grades preK–8, and with a particular emphasis on diverse families and learners, this book helps teachers to overcome barriers, create action plans, and sustain partnerships over time. Key Features Chapters provide a contemporary, culturally relevant approach that guides teachers to devise strategies that celebrate cultural, linguistic, and academic diversity. Case studies present multiple perspectives from teachers, students, and community members. Readers are asked to reflect upon the cases, analyze real-life situations, and apply chapter content to each case. "Notes from the Classroom" include personal observations and strategies from teachers that enhance the reader′s experience. "How To" sections show how to develop an action plan or seek outside funding. Planning sheets are included to provide the sequence of specific steps. Student Study Site Free resources will help you prepare for class and exams! Open-access study materials include chapter-specific interactive self-quizzes, vocabulary e-flashcards, recommended Web sites, and "Learning From SAGE Journal Articles." Visit the Student Study Site at www.sagepub.com/coxpetersen. Instructor Teaching Site Instructors have access to the following password-protected resources: a test bank with sortable questions, PowerPoint slides for each chapter, recommended Web sites, ample syllabi, and teaching tips.




Rethinking School-University Partnerships


Book Description

Rethinking School-University Partnerships: A New Way Forward provides educational leaders in K-12 schools and colleges of education with insight, advice, and direction into the task of creating partnerships. In current times, colleges of education and local school districts need each other like never before. School districts struggle with pipeline, recruitment, and retention issues. Colleges of education face declining enrollment and a shifting educational landscape that fundamentally changes the way that teachers are trained and what local school districts expect their teachers to be able to do. It is with these overlapping constraints and converging interests that partnerships emerge as a foundational strategy for strengthening the education of our teachers. With nearly 80 contributors from 16 states (and Jamaica) representing 39 educational institutions, the partnerships described in this book are different from the ways in which colleges of education and school districts have traditionally worked with one another. In the past, these loose relationships centered primarily on student teaching and/or field experience placements. In this arrangement, the relationship was directed towards ensuring that the local schools were amenable to hosting students from the college of education so that the student/candidate could complete the requirements to earn a teaching license. In our view, this paradigm needs to be enlarged and shifted.




Partners for Special Needs


Book Description

Learn how to collaborate with parents and special education advocates to ensure student success. This practical book shows you how to navigate the tricky path to meeting special education goals and outcomes. It also provides strategies to help you communicate and partner more effectively with families and specialists. Part I of the book offers key information on how special education has evolved over recent decades and what the Individualized Education Plan process entails. Part II features techniques for strengthening communication so you can avoid conflict and create as strong a partnership as possible. You’ll learn the specific roles of advocates and parents, and you’ll gain practical strategies for communicating proactively and managing communication breakdowns. You’ll also uncover how to overcome the challenges of working with people during difficult times. The book is filled with tips, examples, and reflection questions to help you implement the ideas immediately. With the essential strategies in this book, you can become the best support system for the child or children you serve!







Handbook of School-Family Partnerships


Book Description

Family-school partnerships are increasingly touted as a means of improving both student and school improvement. This recognition has led to an increase in policies and initiatives that offer the following benefits: improved communication between parents and educators; home and school goals that are mutually supportive and shared; better understanding of the complexities impinging on children’s development; and pooling of family and school resources to find and implement solutions to shared goals. This is the first comprehensive review of what is known about the effects of home-school partnerships on student and school achievement. It provides a brief history of home-school partnerships, presents evidence-based practices for working with families across developmental stages, and provides an agenda for future research and policy. Key features include: provides comprehensive, cross-disciplinary coverage of theoretical issues and research concerning family-school partnerships. describes those aspects of school-family partnerships that have been adequately researched and promotes their implementation as evidence-based interventions. charts cutting-edge research agendas & methods for exploring school-family partnerships. charts the implications such research has for training, policy and practice especially regarding educational disparities. This book is appropriate for researchers, instructors, and graduate students in the following areas: school counseling, school psychology, educational psychology, school leadership, special education, and school social work. It is also appropriate for the academic libraries serving these audiences.




Building Family-school Partnerships to Improve Student Outcomes


Book Description

This practical manual provides systematic guidance to educators regarding how to form better, more effective working partnerships with the families of the students they serve. Includes: - How-to advice that will result in better academic performance for children. - Response to mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act. - A Workbook to assess current family-school partnering efforts by schools. - An Action Plan Outline to set goals and strategies for family-school partnering. - Do's and Don'ts of family interviewing. - Pre-and/or post-Survey of Knowledge and Attitudes about family-school partnering. - Journal for processing thoughts and reactions. For teachers and school administrators. May also be of interest to school counselors, social workers, and special education personnel.




What Every Special Educator Must Know


Book Description

CEC wrote the book on special education ... literally. CEC s famous red book details the ethics, standards, and guidelines for special education preparation and practice. Delineating both knowledge and skill sets and individual content standards, What Every Special Educator Must Know is an invaluable resource for special education administrators, institutional faculty developing curriculum, state policy makers evaluating licensure requirements, and special educators planning their professional growth.