Special Education

ScienceQuest was a unique after-school program that supported community-based organizations who wanted to increase staff and organizational capacity; assisted youth (ages 10–14) in learning science, technology, and literacy; and increased the youths’ positive experiences with learning. Through training in I-Search methods and ongoing in-person and electronic support, coaches lead small groups in personally relevant explorations documented through youth-designed Web sites.

COPE is developing a series of 26 online professional development courses that are available through the PBS TeacherLine site. The courses are designed to help elementary, middle, and high school teachers deepen their own understanding of mathematics or reading/language arts, incorporate effective teaching and assessment methods, use technology in their classrooms, and address issues of equity.

EDC is collaborating with three universities to study how classroom teachers in grades four through eight can provide access to a rigorous, standards-based curriculum to students with disabilities. Over five years, REACH is developing and studying instructional approaches that support all students as they engage in challenging content learning in language arts (EDC), mathematics (University of Puget Sound), science (University of Michigan), and social studies (University of Delaware). The project has a special focus on the discourse practices that students use in learning rigorous content.

Over five years, working with three school districts (New York Community District 15, Boston, and Albuquerque), the LINK-US Project developed, tested, and refined a model of professional development called STAR Tech (Supporting Teachers to Achieve Results by Integrating Technology into the Curriculum). The key components of the model include the STAR Cycle, in-class technical assistance, face-to-face workshops, and e-learning events.

This project field-tested an innovative software tool, Draft:Builder, designed to help students with disabilities develop information-gathering and analysis skills within the middle grades curriculum. The project incorporated key principles of universal design to ensure accessibility to students with cognitive, sensory, and physical disabilities. Draft:Builder, designed as a prototype in a previous project, is published by Don Johnston, Inc., in collaboration with EDC.

This project built on speech recognition work from a previous project. We worked with a software publisher and speech recognition companies to produce a speech recognition product that meets the needs of individuals with disabilities. This product maintains desirable features of existing products and takes advantage of advances in speech recognition technology, while also integrating other critical adaptive technologies.

Literacy Matters is a comprehensive online professional development environment focusing on what matters most in adolescent literacy development (e.g., making the most of adolescent literacy, improving reading and writing in the content areas, and enhancing literacy and supporting mastery of technology).

Building on the work of EDC’s Addressing Accessibility in Middle School Mathematics, this project designs and implements a professional development model and materials that enable mathematics and special education teachers to successfully support students with disabilities in regular mathematics classrooms. The model includes workshops, example lesson adaptations, and school-based study groups. Project staff work with schools that use standards-based middle school mathematics curricula.

This project designed a professional development model and materials that enabled teachers to successfully support students with disabilities in regular mathematics classrooms. The model included workshops, example lesson adaptations, and school-based planning groups. Project staff worked with schools in the greater Boston area that used standards-based middle school mathematics curricula, such as MathScape and Connected Mathematics.