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 The
Alerts series is a joint initiative sponsored by two divisions of the
Council for Exceptional Children-the Division for Learning Disabilities
(DLD) and the Division for Research (DR). Alerts provide timely and informed
judgments regarding professional practices in the field. Based on the
adequacy of the current knowledge base and practice experience, each Alert
makes a recommendation of “Go For It” (practices for which there
is solid research evidence of effectiveness), or “Use Caution”
(practices for which the research evidence is incomplete, mixed, or negative).
To learn more about the alert series, click here.
DLD invites suggestions regarding ways in which we can
improve the Alerts series as well as suggestions regarding target practices
for future issues. Please contact
us with your comments and suggestions.
Self-Regulated Strategy Development GO FOR IT
Kelley Regan and Margo A. Mastropieri, George Mason University
Alert Issue 17, Spring 2009
Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) for writing is an empirically validated model for supporting students as they write by helping them to develop relevant cognitive and self-regulation skills. SRSD for writing has been studied in K-12 classrooms with students who struggle with planning, composing, revising, or evaluating writing. SRSD for writing encourages students to accomplish writing tasks through explicit instruction and simplifying the process of composing narrative, expository, and persuasive essays while integrating self-regulatory practices.
PDF (4p, 200k)
Functional Behavioral Assessment GO FOR IT
Angela McIntosh, San Diego State University
Alert Issue 16, Spring 2008
Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is a systematic way to gather data, examine the environment, and look for relationships that can help us identify variables that influence students' behavior. The value of FBA has been demonstrated with young children, students with emotional or behavioral disorders or at-risk for mild disabilities, and students with special needs in both self-contained and general education environments.
PDF (4p, 144k)
Fluency Instruction GO FOR IT
Richard Kubina and Charles Hughes, Pennsylvania State University
Alert 15, Spring 2008
Oral reading fluency occurs when a person reads accurately, at an appropriate rate, and with prosody (Hudson, Lane, & Pullen, 2005). Reading fluency instruction may include methods such as repeated reading; contingent reinforcement; goal setting and feedback; goal setting, feedback, and contingent reinforcement; and previewing. All of these methods show promise in improving reading fluency.
PDF (4p, 140k)
Phonics Instruction GO
FOR IT
Paige Pullen and John Lloyd, University of Virginia
Alert 14, Spring 2008
Phonics is an instructional approach that teaches children the systematic relationship between letters and sounds, and how to use that system (the alphabetic principle) to read words. Research indicates that phonics approaches in beginning reading produce better outcomes in decoding, comprehension, and collateral skills (e.g., spelling) than do alternative methods.
PDF (4p, 172k)
Graphic
Organizers GO
FOR IT
Ed Ellis and Pamela Howard, University of Alabama
Alert 13, Spring 2007
Graphic organizers (GOs) are visual devices that employ lines, circles, and boxes to organize information. These images serve as visual cues designed to facilitate communication and/or understanding of information. There is ample research that documents improvements in reading comprehension, process writing skills, thinking skills, and learning of content-area material when graphic organizers are used.
PDF (4p, 532k)
Reading
Comprehension Instruction GO FOR IT
Rick Brigham, Sheri Berkley, Pamela Simpkins, and Michele Brigham,
George Mason University
Alert 12, Spring 2007
Comprehension strategies are specific, learned procedures that foster active, competent, self-regulated, and intentional reading. Comprehension strategy instruction is appropriate for individuals who consistently fail to develop a coherent understanding of material that is read. One such strategy is self-questioning during reading. The self-questioning approaches discussed in this Alert improved comprehension in research studies.
PDF (4p, 160k)
Cooperative
Learning USE CAUTION
Kristen McMaster, University of Minnesota and Doug Fuchs, Vanderbilt
University
Alert Issue 11, Spring 2005
Cooperative learning (CL) is an instructional method that makes use of small, heterogeneous groups of students who work together to achieve common learning goals (Johnson & Johnson, 1992). Researchers have reported mixed results for CL in improving the academic achievement of students with disabilities.
PDF (4p, 128k)
Phonological
Awareness GO FOR IT
Gary A. Troia, University of Washington
Alert Issue 10, Summer 2004
Phonological awareness is an explicit understanding that spoken language comprises discrete units ranging from entire words and syllables to smaller intrasyllabic units of onsets, rimes, and phonemes. Phonemic awareness is the deepest level of phonological awareness and the most crucial to success in reading and spelling. Evidence indicates that deliberate, systematic instruction in phonological awareness profits many students with and without disabilities.
PDF (4p, 128k)
Social Skills
Instruction USE CAUTION
James Leffert, Gary N. Siperstein, University of Massachusetts-Boston
Alert Issue 9, Fall 2003
Social skills instruction refers to the systematic application of instructional procedures to teach social skills. Educators sometimes use other terms, such as "violence prevention" and "character education", to refer to instructional programs that include the teaching of social skills. At present, there is wide variability in the implementation of social skills instruction, making it hard to describe a typical instructional program. Review of research on social skills instruction has found limited success.
PDF (4p, 240k)
Class-wide Peer
Tutoring GO FOR IT
Larry Maheady, Gregory Harper, Barbara Mallette, SUNY Fredonia
Alert no. 8, Spring 2003
Class-wide peer tutoring refers to a class of instructional strategies in which students are taught by peers who are trained and supervised by classroom teachers (Greenwood, Maheady, & Delquadri, 2002). The oldest and most widely researched class-wide peer tutoring (CWPT) approach was developed and refined at the Juniper Gardens Children's Project in Kansas City, over the past 20 years. CWPT has been shown to be superior to conventional forms of teacher-led instruction in improving pupils' academic outcomes in many content areas.
PDF (4p,
104k)
Reading Recovery
USE CAUTION
Authors: Carolyn Denton and Patricia Mathes, Center for Academic and
Reading Skills, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston.
Alert no. 7, Summer 2002
Reading Recovery is an early literacy intervention that provides one-to-one tutoring to children who perform at the lowest levels in their class after one year of school reading instruction (Pinnell, 1989). From the available research, it is evident that Reading Recovery works well for some students, but not all. There are also questions about how successful Reading Recovery students maintain their gains.
PDF (4p, 212k)
Co-Teaching
USE CAUTION
Authors: Naomi Zigmond & Kathleen Magiera, University of Pittsburgh
Alert no. 6, Autumn 2001
Co-Teaching is a special education service delivery model in which a general educator and a special educator share responsibility for planning, delivering, and evaluating instruction for a diverse group of students. Despite its popularity, only four studies could be found that provided rigorous evaluations of co-teaching. These studies provide modest support for co-teaching as a means of allowing students with LD to access the general curriculum, but they provide no evidence that co-teaching is an improvement relative to traditional special education models.
PDF (4p, 232k)
Mnemonic Instruction GO FOR IT
Author: Rick Brigham & Michelle Brigham, University of Virginia
Alert no. 5, Summer 2001
Mnemonic instruction combines presentation of unfamiliar information with explicit strategies for recall. Most mnemonic strategies rely on both verbal and imagery components to support recall. Research suggests large gains from mnemonic instruction on criterion-referenced tests, but evidence of gains on norm-referenced tests is less clear.
HTML
PDF (4p, 484k)
High-Stakes
Assessment USE CAUTION
Author: Martha Thurlow, University of Minnesota
Alert no. 4, Spring 2001
IDEA 97 requires that all students with disabilities participate in regular state and district assessments, unless their IEP indicates that they are unable to participate. Most students with LD are able to participate, given appropriate testing accommodations. Unfortunately, we still do not have uniform guidelines or empirical validation regarding appropriate testing accommodations.
HTML
PDF (4p, 456k)
Formative
Evaluation GO
FOR IT
Authors: Christine Espin, Jongho Shin, & Todd Busch, University
of Minnesota
Alert no. 3, Spring 2000
Formative evaluation is the ongoing collection of information in order to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional implementations and to determine whether adaptations to the instruction are necessary. There are many specific approaches to formative evaluation, including Curriculum Based Assessment (CBA), Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM), and Portfolio and Performance Assessment (PA). Of these approaches, CBA and PA provide useful information for teachers regarding how to change instruction to improve student outcomes. However, only CBM has a strong empirical database regarding its validity.
PDF (4p, 64k)
Direct Instruction
GO FOR IT
Author: Sara Tarver, University of Wisconsin
Alert no. 2, Summer 1999
Direct Instruction (DI) is an approach to teacher-directed explicit instruction distinguished from other approaches by its emphasis on both instruction and curriculum design. The goal of DI is to accelerate student learning by maximizing efficiency in the design and delivery of instruction. Our review of the research on DI indicates that it is an effective instructional approach and can be reliably implemented for elementary students with LD. Questions remain regarding the long-term benefits of DI, as well as its efficacy at the secondary level.
HTML
PDF (4p, 140k)
The Alert Series
Alert 1, Spring 1999
This introduction to the Alert series summarizes the goal of the joint initiative and outlines the format used to examine practices.
HTML
PDF (4p, 128k)
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