R ob is a sixth grade student in Ms. Decker's self-contained classroom for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). He has struggled in school, both academically and behaviorally, for as long as his family can remember. He was retained in kindergarten and first grade, and has failed to meet benchmarks on the annual state standardized test. Rob also engages in many escapemotivated behaviors. For instance, he flipped over his desk and punched a wall as others completed a benchmark reading test last month, and said, ''I will fail anyway no matter what, so why even try?'' Ms. Decker has noticed that Rob works very hard on nonacademic activities that interest him. Recently, Rob developed a passion for magic. He watched a series of magic videos on YouTube over and over, practiced the trick several times a day, and expressed great pride when he was able to show this trick to his classmates. The energy and effort that he poured into his magic trick showed Ms. Decker that he is motivated to learn new things, and to display this knowledge before others. She wonders how she can harness this motivation in a positive and proactive way to support his academic and behavioral needs. Although Rob clearly has challenges, Ms. Decker could positively and proactively harness his motivation and better meet his academic and behavioral needs by placing him in a position of responsibility as a peer tutor. The concept of this idea may seem like a frightening prospect at first. Indeed, teachers may be hesitant to consider students with academic challenges as potential tutors (Cochran, Feng, Cartledge, & Hamilton, 1993), particularly students with EBD who often have challenging behaviors and poor interpersonal relationships in addition to their own academic needs (Landrum, Tankersley, & Kauffman, 2003; Trout, Nordness, Pierce, & Epstein, 2003). However, existing research has demonstrated that, with careful planning and support, many students with EBD can effectively tutor other students (Blake, Wang, Cartledge, & Gardner, 2000; Tournaki & Criscitiello, 2003). This article will provide theoretical and empirical support for placing students with EBD in tutoring positions and make recommendations for implementing peer tutoring programs with students like Rob.

Special education teacher attrition has numerous negative impacts for students and schools. Administrators play an essential role in supporting special educators, but they seldom receive adequate preparation to provide this support effectively. The authors synthesize job characteristics theory, an area of research conducted by organizational psychologists. This theory is used to provide practical suggestions for administrators interested in supporting and retaining special educators.

Stigma remains an impediment to seeking and receiving the requisite care for mental illness. To enhance a local National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) affiliate’s understanding of community members’ perceptions of mental illness and its associated stigma, a community-based participatory action research study was conducted. The study addressed the following research question: how do community members understand and experience the stigma associated with mental illness? Twenty-two participant-researchers wore mental illness labeled T-shirts around the local community, recorded their observations and reflections of this experience and recruited twenty-two community members for semi-structured interviews about mental illness stigma. Domain analysis of the interviews revealed community members’ understandings of (1) sources of stigma, (2) impacts of stigma, (3) conceptualizations of stigma and (4) pathways to change stigma. Findings were presented to members of the local NAMI affiliate as well as other community members. Practical implications, specific to the community of interest, are discussed.

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