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All societies carry out sorting and classificatory actions, the way they view deviance changes over time for a variety of reasons that are sometimes unrelated to the behavior or its consequences (Moynihan, 1993). Also, some behaviors that were considered to be illnesses or crimes at one time have been redefined in ways that remove them from the medical, psychological, or legal professions' guidelines for interpreting them as deviant behaviors. Homosexuality is one example of such a reclassification (Bowker & Star, 1999).

It seems that assessment has almost always been a controversial issue when discussing students with learning disabilities. This chapter will first define learning disabilities with a discussion on the current federal definition, what a severe discrepancy is, the dimensions of a psychological processing disorder, and response to intervention. Then the focus will move toward assessment and how it impacts programming and placement for students with learning disabilities. Finally, the chapter will discuss monitoring daily performance. After reading this chapter the reader should have a better understanding of assessment and students with learning disabilities.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is unique among areas of eligibility for students with disabilities in federal special education legislation, not in what is assessed, but why the assessment is taking place. If not for the injury, most individuals with TBI would be unlikely to come to the attention of special educators. Few education training programs appear to allocate sufficient attention to the category, so we present background information regarding prevalence, recovery, and outcomes before summarizing advice from the literature regarding assessment of individuals with TBI in schools. Although educators are unlikely to be involved in the initial diagnosis of TBI, they can be important collaborators in promoting recovery or detecting a worsening condition. Almost every assessment tool available to educators is likely to be of value in this endeavor. These include both formal and informal approaches to assessment. Working with individuals with TBI requires sensitivity and compassion.

Quantitative research is based on epistemic beliefs that can be traced back to David Hume. Hume and others who followed in his wake suggested that we can never directly observe cause and effect. Rather we perceive what is called “constant conjunction” or the regularities of relationships among events. Through observing these regularities, we can develop generalizable laws that, once established, describe predictable patterns that can be replicated with reliability. This form of reasoning involves studying groups of individuals and is often called nomothetic and is contrasted with idiographic research that focuses on the uniqueness of the individual. It is clear that large-scale experiments with random assignment to treatment are based on nomothetic models, as are quasi-experimental studies where intact groups of people (e.g., students in a particular classroom) are assigned to treatments.

Transition can be seen as the capstone of many if not most efforts of special educators on behalf of students with disabilities. Transition programs must build upon the foundation set by general and special education teachers to promote accomplishments that will support engagement in adult life. The assumption underlying transition policy is that classroom personnel are adequately trained and supported to promote such outcomes. We investigated that assumption through research on the perceptions of 17 graduate students or recent completers of an alternative certification program serving a large urban district in the northeast. Study participants were interviewed regarding the provision of special education services at their assigned schools, the manner in which they were utilized, the degree to which they felt prepared and supported to teach students with disabilities, and recommendations for improving special education services, teacher training, and support. All participants taught special education students in secondary settings and were assigned to different schools. Several themes were identified including stress due to professional demands, concerns with collaboration and the quality of special education services, and a need for additional special education training. Implications for transition are discussed.

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the basic ideas behind human and social capital, relate those ideas to teacher education and staff-development activities, and then summarize key literature regarding faculty evaluation methods with an eye toward building the human and social capital within schools. The probable outcome of targeted professional development for special educators is enhanced collective efficacy across the entire school community. The chapter concludes with the application of situational leadership, a model that appears to have particular utility toward building the human and social capital of a school.

The study of eye movements relative to perception and cognition has beenan area of interest from ancient times. The present paper will trace this research activity from its origins in the Ancient Greek and Medival times through the 19th century and the technological progress of the 20th century. We will identify turning points in the history of eye movement and provide information on recently developed eye-tracking equiptment. The discussion will include eye movements and visual perception, identifying the basic terminology and phenomena considered relative to eye movements (fixations, saccades, and regressions), visual perceptual and attentional spans. Emphasis will be placed on eye movements and comprehension during text- and picture-viewing and how judgements can be made, based on eye movements, about how people try to integrate content from text and pictures. We will then describe the fundamental conclusions made 15 to 20 years ago regarding the eye movements of individuals with reading difficulties as well as recently emerging evidence that calls for a reconsideration of some of those conclusions. Finally, we will describe our current efforts at educational applications of eye-movement research involving applications to content displays on the World Wide Web.