Effects of classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) on the academic performance of 14 mildly handicapped and 36 nondisabled students enrolled in three 10th-grade social studies classrooms were examined. Effects were analyzed using a multiple baseline design across settings with a withdrawal of treatment in two classrooms. Analysis of results indicated that the implementation of CWPT produced an average increase of 21 points on weekly tests. With CWPT 60% of all students earned “A” grades, failing grades were virtually eliminated, and no mildly handicapped students received grades below “C”. Anecdotal student and teacher comments were positive. Implications for secondary, mainstreamed students and teachers were discussed.

Teaching is more difficult today than in the past, and most educators predict that it will become even more challenging in years to come. Exponential increases within the school curriculum, spectacular changes in student demographic characteristics, and dwindling instructional resources make it extremely difficult for even the most responsive teachers to provide a high-quality education for all pupils. These challenges become more formidable when teachers attempt to meet the needs of students with mild disabilities in less restrictive settings (e.g., general education classrooms). In this article, we describe how a variety of peer-mediated instruction and interventions might assist classroom teachers in meeting such instructional challenges. We describe the extensive academic and behavioral needs of this population of students, provide an illustrative review of peer-teaching methods, and suggest future directions for research and practice. EDUCATIONAL AND INTERPERSONAL DIFFICULTIES HE EDUCATIONAL AND INTERPERSONAL DIFFICULTIESthat students with mild disabilities (i.e., communication dis-

School-university partnerships have been offered as possible solutions for many contemporary educational challenges. These relationships are generally well accepted by university and school personnel; however, unanswered questions remain regarding their nature and utility. This paper describes one teacher preparation program's efforts to strengthen and extend existing partnerships with a small group of primarily rural school districts. Partnership efforts were supported, in part by a 325T professional development grant to prepare highly qualified special education teachers. Three specific, grant-related activities (i.e., improving educators' understanding and use of evidence-based practices, capturing practitioners' professional wisdom, and changing practice through instructional coaching) were highlighted as exemplars of partnership work. Lessons learned over the 5-year partnership with nine rural school districts are summarized and directions for future research and practice are offered.

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As we enter the 21st Century, many individuals both within and outside of education have expressed their general dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs in our public schools and institutions of higher education. Indeed, the literature is replete with calls for educational reform. Here, we make another call for educational reform by arguing that measurable change in student performance should serve as the gold standard for making judgments about effective instruction. We argue further that student change data can serve as an important component in the evaluation of teacher preparation programs and as a guiding force in current educational reform efforts. We describe a few promising assessment technologies that allow us to capture more direct, repeated, and contextually based measures of student learning, and propose an improvement-oriented inquiry approach to teaching and learning.