The purpose of this followup study was to determine the long-term predictive validity of theoretically coherent reading measures administered during fall and winter of kindergarten. Seventy-nine children were screened using measures representing letter identification, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming. Reading achievement was measured at the end of grades 1 through 4 on passage comprehension, oral reading fluency, sight-word recognition, and phonemic decoding. A multivariate screening model incorporating letter identification, phonological awareness, and rapid automatized naming emerged as the most parsimonious model for predicting long-term reading achievement. This screening model yielded the highest correlations with oral reading fluency as the outcome measure. There was no practical significance between the fall and winter screening over the four-year period using this model. Results are interpreted as confirming the importance of a multivariate screening approach using letter identification, phonological awareness, and rapid automatized naming at the earliest time frame in kindergarten.

In this study, the authors examine the influence of teacher and student communication patterns, instructional practices, and teacher pedagogical content knowledge on students’ mathematics learning in both general and special education mathematics classrooms. Five pre-service special education teachers in field placements and 43 students with varying disabilities participated in this study. Observations of teachers during mathematics lessons and follow-up interviews were conducted. Students in these settings completed a pretest and posttest of mathematics content taught over 6 weeks of instruction. Results reveal two sets of instructional practices, communication patterns, and teacher understandings of mathematics for teaching that differentially affected student performance. Implications are discussed for teacher education and further research.

In this exploratory study, teachers' use of standards-based, discourse practices and their students' mathematics learning in inclusive elementary mathematics classrooms were examined. Two beginning teachers (one third-grade teacher, one fourth-grade teacher) and six students identified with disabilities or as low performing in mathematics participated in this study (three students from each classroom). Six classroom observations of teachers took place over 4 months focusing on a subset of indicators associated with Walshaw and Anthony's framework of mathematics classroom discourse practices. Follow-up interviews were also conducted. Curriculum-based and state-accountability measures were collected on the six target students in these settings. Different patterns of student performance emerged across the two classrooms in which teachers were observed using different types and degrees of standards-based discourse practices during mathematics lessons. Findings suggest indicators of effective mathematics teaching in inclusive general education classrooms to be validated by future research efforts.

Enhancing all students’ academic performance continues to be a national priority, and although achievement gains have been made overtime, shortfalls in mathematics learning for students with disabilities (SWD) remain. Research reveals that a substantial portion of the variability in students’ mathematics achievement gains is due to the teacher. To address the need for teacher professional development (PD) in mathematics for SWD and other struggling mathematics learners, we designed and studied Prime Online—a yearlong, online, PD program with support from an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Goal 2 Development and Innovation research grant. In this article, the development process and an exploratory study are discussed. Study findings suggest that Prime Online positively influenced general and special education teachers’ reported beliefs and practices, and their learning of mathematics content for teaching, and generated high teacher satisfaction ratings. No difference in the performance of SWD on a state accountability measure of mathematics was found. Implications for further research are discussed.

Given the increasing pressures of high-stakes accountability associated with state mandates and No Child Left Behind (U.S. Department of Education, 2002), linking teacherpreparation within professional development schools to the goal of school improvement has become essential. This article illustrates the University of Florida's efforts to understand the ways that prospective teacher education can be linked to individual school improvement efforts. It explains how teacher educators and their school-based partners collaboratively craft their professional development school work with prospective and practicing teachers to target school improvement and teacher learning. Four models for engaging in inquiry-oriented school improvement are illustrated and the factors that underlie their design are outlined. The four models illustrate the ways that inquiry-oriented professional development school work contributes to individual school improvement efforts while cultivating in its participants an inquiry stance, a pedagogical content knowledge base, and a favorable disposition toward participating in school change.