Teacher quality is widely recognized as influencing student achievement and success in school. In this article, we consider various approaches to the assessment of teacher quality, including process—product observational measures, evaluation checklists, professional standards, large-scale surveys, and commercially available observation systems. We present examples of each from the special education literature, consider teacher education research genres for which each is appropriate, and evaluate each using a set of criteria that incorporates both practical and technical considerations. We advocate for multimethod approaches to teacher quality research and for more research relating what teachers know and do to what students learn, and we note that a stronger link between teachers and learners would allow for more rigorous evaluations of teacher preparation.
We interviewed 250 parents of Mexican and Puerto Rican origin living in the United States who had young children with developmental delays to determine the role of religion in their lives. Quantitative results indicate that parents largely viewed themselves as religious, were affiliated with a formal religion, and participated in religious activities. Most parents viewed both church and faith as supportive, but faith was shown to provide more support. Repeated measures a analysis of variance found some intragroup variations in religious support and changes in support after learning of the child's condition. Thematic analysis revealed specific religious beliefs and practices parents viewed as supportive, and content and cultural models analyses indicated the religious frameworks by which parents interpreted their child's disability.
We interviewed 200 Latino parents (50 Mexican couples, 50 Puerto Rican couples) living in the United States to determine needs and supports related to raising a child with a disability and to identify variables related to reported needs and supports. The pattern of needs expressed was similar to that found in previous studies, but the number was substantially higher. More support was reported from family and formal sources than from friends or informal sources. Using repeated measures of analysis of covariance involving six family variables and three child variables, we found that English language proficiency was the only variable to account for significant variance in needs and supports.
therapeutic needs, (c) identifying the range of services which potentially could help support them and their child, and (d) gaining access to those services. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) assures that a system exists to help accomplish these tasks. However, it appears that considerable variation exists in the extent to which parents are aware of, use, and are satisfied with services. Many factors likely in-
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