Core Vocabulary and Concepts

This chapter’s focus is the vocabulary and concepts central to a discussion about the presentation of effective and efficient instruction to students with disabilities. For this discussion, the term vocabulary refers to the words used in a language, while the term concept refers to a general notion.

The importance of vocabulary knowledge is best explained in terms of how beginning readers develop their reading comprehension skills. Teachers who present beginning reading instruction are cognizant that, for a student to comprehend the text she reads, she must know the meanings of key vocabulary. Likewise, to enhance your understanding of the content presented throughout this course – in text, videos, online modules, etc. – you need to know the meanings of key vocabulary.

However, in this course, the term key vocabulary is replaced with the term core vocabulary. The reason for this arrangement is to impress upon you that the meanings of this vocabulary are at the heart of special education and the provision of effective and efficient instruction to students with disabilities who receive special education services.

While there are slight variations elsewhere for some of the definitions for the vocabulary presented here, your understanding of the definitions presented in this chapter will enable you to begin to assimilate the core vocabulary about the discipline of special education. That is to say, in many instances, a universally agreed-upon definition does not exist for each term. Yet, in some instances, a term’s definition has a specific, legal meaning set forth in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) and/or its accompanying regulations. This circumstance will be made clear to you whenever it applies.

As you read the content in this chapter, you will readily note how the definition of a term is placed within a broader context. This arrangement is intended to enable you to develop a deep understanding of each term’s meaning- its meaning and what it means relative to other core vocabulary. Thus, you must attend to all the presented content rather than just how a term has been defined.

The significance of knowing the meanings of key vocabulary was captured by Voltaire (1694-1778)*, a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher, who has been reported to have said, “If you wish to converse with me, define your terms.“ This quote is relevant to this course in the sense that you need to understand the meanings that are ascribed to key vocabulary that are presented throughout this course. The quote is relevant to your work as a special education teacher in that you need to learn the vocabulary of special education. (*Voltaire was the pen name for François-Marie Arouet)

As was noted above, a concept refers to a general notion, or idea. A central concept concerning students who manifest mild disabilities is that they possess the innate ability to master all of the academic achievement standards that comprise the core curriculum taught in a general education classroom. Additional concepts are presented elsewhere in this chapter.

Chapter Primer

This chapter first presents core vocabulary and concepts that pertain to the presentation of effective instruction to students with disabilities, particularly those students who manifest what has been characterized as a mild disability. Next, core vocabulary and concepts that pertain to the various characterizations of the behavior of students with disabilities are presented, followed by core vocabulary and concepts that pertain to assessment. Last, miscellaneous core vocabulary and concepts relevant to this course but not presented elsewhere in this chapter are presented.

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives pertain to the two sections presented below: (a) Core Vocabulary Pertaining to the Presentation of Effective Instruction and (b) Core Concepts Pertaining to the Presentation of Effective Instruction. After working through all of the content presented in each section, you should be able to

• Explain the meanings of the terms behavior, teaching, effective instruction, curriculum, instructional strategy, and instructional materials
• Discuss the expectation for the curriculum content that should be mastered by a student characterized as manifesting a mild disability
• Discuss whether effective instructional strategies for students with disabilities are also appropriate for students who demonstrate significant, persistent learning challenges but who have not been identified as having a disability

Core Vocabulary Pertaining to the Presentation of Effective Instruction

Behavior. An individual’s observable actions. Anything a person says or does.

Teaching. Imparting knowledge or skills. Teaching implies an interaction between an adult and a student such that the student’s behavior changes, in some way, as a result of the interaction. The specific way the student’s behavior changes is that they can express newly acquired knowledge (e.g., state the sum of an addition basic fact or the name of the capital of the state in which they live) or perform a newly acquired skill (e.g., correctly complete a long division algorithm, wash their hands, or wait to be called on, by the teacher, after raising their hand to answer a question).

Curriculum. A listing of the content students are to learn while in school. This content can be described in various ways. One way to describe it is in terms of knowledge (i.e., pieces of information) students should acquire and skills (i.e., tasks and activities) they should be able to perform. Another way to describe curriculum content is as the IDEA does in terms of academic and functional content.

The IDEA references academic content as a student’s academic achievement. This refers to a student’s performance in traditional academic areas, such as English/language arts, mathematics, science, and history.

Functional content is referenced in the IDEA as a student’s functional performance. In part, functional content refers to what has been called “routine activities of daily living,” which include skills such as dressing, eating, and going to the bathroom. These skills are also known as daily living skills.

Functional content also includes (a) social skills (i.e., sharing space appropriately with others, engaging in appropriate communicative exchanges, establishing and maintaining friendships), (b) knowing how to behave appropriately across various settings, and (c) engaging in mobility skills that enable a student to traverse throughout a school’s campus.

Note that some people define curriculum in a way that includes the definition presented above and the definitions for the terms instructional strategy and instructional materials (presented below). Furthermore, this alternative definition also refers to the time when certain content will be taught, such as across three school days during the 3rd nine-week grading period. This timeframe refers to the school’s/teacher’s use of a curriculum’s scope and sequence.

The information in the preceding paragraph about an alternative definition for curriculum is provided for “informational purposes only.” In other words, this definition does not pertain to how the term curriculum is used in the content presented in this course, nor to how you will be tested on the meaning of this term.

Instructional strategy. The planned actions a teacher executes when she teaches. A teacher delineates the instructional strategy, or strategies, she will use in a written document called a lesson plan. Terms that are synonymous with instructional strategy are teaching strategy and teaching methodology.

The four basic instructional strategies a teacher uses individually – or in combination – are verbal instructions, modeling, written instructions, and physical guidance. For instance, if a teacher sets out to teach a student how to wash his hands, the teacher’s instructional strategy could consist of

• verbal instructions, meaning she tells the student how to perform each step of the handwashing routine;
• modeling, meaning the teacher demonstrates, at a separate sink, how to perform each step of the routine;
• written instructions, which might consist of the teacher posting on the mirror above the sink a written list of the steps that comprise the handwashing routine; and/or
• physical guidance, which might consist of the teacher standing directly behind the student and directing his movements such that he completes each step of the handwashing routine.

Know that when a teacher combines multiple strategies, the intervention is called a multi-component instructional strategy.

Instructional materials. These are the tangible and intangible items a teacher and/or her students use when the teacher presents a lesson. Tangible items are those a student can feel/touch/manipulate, such as base ten blocks, a pencil, and a worksheet. Intangible items cannot be physically touched or manipulated. An example of an intangible item would be an app – which cannot be physically touched or manipulated – but is presented through a tangible item that can be directly manipulated, such as a desktop computer or handheld device.

It is important to note how instructional materials are aligned with curriculum content. When academic content is taught, traditional instructional materials, such as paper, pencils, books, and computers, will be used. In contrast, when functional content is being taught, such as making a sandwich, instructional materials might include a knife, bread, lunch meat, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Targeted learning outcome. The knowledge or skill that a teacher intends for a student to master. One example of a targeted learning outcome is for the student to state the short vowel sound associated with the letter a. A second example of a targeted learning outcome is for a student to put one sock on each foot.

Explicit Instruction. An approach to instruction, meaning a way to present instruction, comprised of multiple teacher behaviors that have been proven (through research) to be effective – either singularly or in combination. Key features of explicit instruction include the following teacher behaviors:

• Selection and subsequent overt statement of a clear learning objective
• Identification of why students need to master the learning objective (also referred to as the targeted learning outcome), as well as how the learning objective relates to previously learned, related content
• Task analysis and appropriate sequencing of content
• Presentation of examples and non-examples
• A multi-step sequence that may be comprised of teacher modeling-guided practice-independent practice (Special Note: One three-step sequence associated with explicit instruction is commonly referred to as the “I do, We do, You do” sequence.)
• Opportunities for active student responding
• Provision of timely feedback
• Maintenance of a brisk pace
• Lesson review
• Preview of future, related work

Other terms that have been put forth in the literature to refer to the same type of approach to instruction include (a) direct instruction and (b) assisted instruction.

Instructional Framework. In this course, the term instructional framework refers to the generic structure for an appropriate lesson for students with disabilities. You must recognize that this framework is suitable for teaching any subject matter content: beginning reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies. Thus, one task you must take upon yourself as a part of your long-term professional development is figuring out how best to match the components of this instructional framework with the content you must present from a particular subject matter area. Explicit instruction is the term used to describe the instructional framework to which I am referring.

Yet, there are a number of related concepts about which you must become knowledgeable. These include, but certainly are not limited to, intensive instruction, high-leverage practices (HLPs), evidence-based practices (EBPs), proper practice, and instructional strategies that are “fit for purpose” (i.e., the type of instruction that is appropriate for the phases of learning that include acquisition, fluency, maintenance, and generalization).

Modeling; Teacher Modeling. One of the steps that comprise the multi-step sequence that has been referred to as the “body” of explicit instruction. Modeling involves the teacher demonstrating how to perform the behavior defined in the targeted learning outcome while the students observe, but do NOT do, the work central to the teacher’s demonstration.

Example markers of teacher modeling include the teacher saying “Watch me” or “Listen to me.” If students do something during this step, it consists of responding to a question or directive with an obvious answer that the students already know, such as, “Show a thumbs up if the letter t is the first letter in the word ‘there.'”

Effective instruction. Instruction that has been determined to be responsible for a student’s mastery of one or more targeted learning outcomes. For instance, research has shown that an instructional strategy known as simultaneous prompting has proven to be responsible for some students with disabilities learning to name the numerals 1-9. In this instance, simultaneous prompting is an effective instructional strategy.

Efficient instruction. This concept refers to the relative ease – with respect to teacher effort when presenting instruction and preparing for it – involved with using one effective instructional strategy as opposed to another. In other words, the concept of efficient instruction only applies to instruction that has proven to be effective.

For example, a teacher may have the option of using two effective instructional strategies –  either Instructional Strategy A or Instructional Strategy B – to teach students to solve multiplication basic facts. Instructional Strategy A involves having the students work through an app presented on a desktop computer in the classroom, while Instructional Strategy B consists of the teacher creating flashcards and a data recording sheet and then transferring the data from the recording sheet to a spreadsheet on a computer. Since Instructional Strategy A is easier for the teacher to use than Instructional Strategy B, Instructional Strategy A could be described as a more efficient instructional strategy.

Another way to think of efficient instruction is as the relative amount of resources involved when using two different but effective instructional strategies. The more efficient instructional strategy consists of the expenditure of fewer resources.

Intervention. A basic definition for this term is a change to the environment. An example of an intervention would be when a teacher who wants to lessen the amount of disruptive talking that is occurring between two students who are seated in desks positioned side-by-side creates a new seating chart that results in the two students sitting in chairs located on opposite corners of the rows and columns of desks in the classroom. This new seating chart is an intervention.

Be sure to note that the terms instructional strategy and intervention are often used interchangeably. Thus, for this course, you should consider them synonymous. However, you need to be aware of how an intervention can be defined differently than an instructional strategy because some professionals use the definition of the term intervention presented above to describe how they will address a student’s engagement in inappropriate school social behaviors.

Implementation Fidelity. A term used to describe the extent to which an instructional strategy has been implemented properly. This means that someone checks to see that the person who implements an instructional strategy follows all of the strategy’s steps. This term is synonymous with the term fidelity of implementation.

Intensive instruction. Instruction which, through an iterative process, becomes highly individualized for one or more purposes. A basic definition of an iterative process is a process that aims to improve. One purpose of intensive instruction may be to remediate a student’s academic achievement deficit, while another may be to increase a student’s engagement in appropriate school social behaviors.

Remedial instruction. Instruction presented outside of the general education classroom instruction to teach a student either below grade-level content the student has not mastered or grade-level content that has been presented at an earlier point in time during the school year but has not been mastered.

Program. A program is defined, generically, as “a set of related activities with a particular long-term aim.” An example of a program is one designed to teach students who are demonstrating a significant and persistent academic achievement deficit in mathematics about various features of fractions.

Core Concepts Pertaining to the Presentation of Effective Instruction

1. Generally speaking, students who manifest mild disabilities are assumed to possess the innate ability to master all of the academic achievement standards that comprise the core curriculum taught in a general education classroom. Among other things, this circumstance means that these students (a) should spend as much time as possible engaged in the instructional activities that occur in a general education classroom and (b) must receive all necessary accommodations so that these accommodations enable the students to overcome any barriers that may result when the accommodations are not provided.
2. A teacher’s capacity for presenting effective instruction is time-limited because a school’s academic calendar sets limits for the time available to a teacher to present instruction. Thus, teachers must strive to maximize a student’s academic learning time, which refers to presenting effective instruction that addresses targeted learning outcomes at a student’s instructional level.
3. Effective instructional strategies for students with disabilities are also appropriate for students who demonstrate significant, persistent learning challenges but who have not been identified as having a disability. This concept is relevant to general education teachers tasked with providing remedial instruction to these students.

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives pertain to the two sections below: (a) Core Vocabulary Pertaining to the Various Characterizations of Behavior and (b) Core Concepts Pertaining to Behavior. After working through all of the content in each section, you should be able to

• Explain the definitions of the terms frequency, rate, latency, duration, and school social behavior
• Discuss how academic behavior and school social behaviors are inter-related
• Discuss what is meant by saying “appropriate behavior is context specific”

Core Vocabulary Pertaining to the Various Characterizations of Behavior

This part of the chapter presents information about core vocabulary and concepts that pertain to the various characterizations of the behavior of students with disabilities. Core vocabulary are presented first.

Behavior refers to an individual’s observable actions, meaning anything a person says or does. Given this definition, an individual’s behavior is measurable, meaning it can be quantified with a number. Accordingly, several dimensions of behavior – that can be measured – are defined below.

• Frequency. The number of times a student engages in a behavior; a count of the occurrences of a behavior.
• Rate. A ratio of the frequency of a student’s behavior per unit of time; usually reported as a ratio of the frequency of a behavior per one minute (e.g., answering six addition basic facts correctly in one minute, meaning a rate of six per minute).
• Latency. The time that elapses between the presentation of a task directive from a teacher to a student and the moment the student begins to perform the task.
• Duration. The length of time a student engages in a behavior.
• Locus. The location where a behavior occurs, including the place within an environment (e.g., Room 10 in the school) or on a person’s body (i.e., a right-hand slap to the right cheek on the face).
• Topography. An objective description of what the behavior “looks like” (e.g., slapping one’s right facial cheek with an open right hand).
• Intensity. The strength of a behavior (e.g., the individual broke three pencils in half).

Academic Behavior. For this course, an academic behavior involves the performance of a task associated with academic content, as it is defined with regards to the term “academic achievement” in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Thus, academic content refers to the knowledge and skills that pertain to traditional subject matter areas (i.e., mathematics, science, English/language arts, and social studies). Examples of academic behaviors would be writing a sum for an addition basic fact, spelling a high-frequency word, and writing a science experiment report.

Functional Behavior. For this course, the term “functional behavior” refers to a student’s performance of (a) an activity of daily living (e.g., eating, dressing, using the restroom), (b) a mobility skill (e.g., walking), (c) social skills that include making friends and communicating with others, and (d) behaviors that are appropriate for a given context. This last type of functional behavior – behaviors that are appropriate for a given context – is also referred to in this course as school social behaviors (see below). In the IDEA, the term “functional performance” refers to the types of behaviors defined in this course as functional behavior.

Social Behaviors. For this course, social behaviors are defined as those that allow someone to share space appropriately with others. An example is remaining quiet while orienting one’s eye gaze toward the speaker.

School Social Behavior. A social behavior appropriate in a school context (i.e., while on school premises or an extension of these premises, such as a school bus.) Each school defines appropriate social behavior for its context so that the same behavior may be appropriate in one school but not another (e.g., talking aloud while eating lunch in the cafeteria).

Core Concepts Pertaining to Behavior

1. Academics and School Social Behaviors are interrelated and must be addressed simultaneously. I have worked with colleagues who said they could only teach a student academic content once they could get the student to display appropriate school social behaviors routinely. This perspective is illogical in that a student may engage in inappropriate school social behaviors due to the academic content being taught. For instance, a student may talk without permission in an attempt to be sent to the Principal’s office to escape the mathematics instruction being presented, which the student perceives is too difficult. Hence, academic and school social behaviors must be addressed simultaneously.
2. A behavior may be deemed appropriate in one context but not another. For example, loud whistling, stomping one’s feet, and yelling at the top of one’s voice would be deemed to be appropriate during a championship sporting event, but a display of the same behaviors during the administration of an end-of-the-year statewide mathematics assessment would be deemed to be inappropriate. 

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives pertain to the content in the two sections below: (a) Core Vocabulary Pertaining to Assessment and (b) Core Concepts Pertaining to Assessment. After working through all of the content in each section, you should be able to

• Explain the definitions of the following terms: targeted learning outcome, mastery measurement, and response interval
• Discuss the difference between testing and teaching 

Core Vocabulary Pertaining to Assessment

This part of the chapter presents information about core vocabulary and concepts that pertain to assessment. Core vocabulary are presented first.

Assessment. The collection of data, which is information. A primary reason for collecting data is to inform instruction. When assessment informs instruction, the teacher uses the data to decide how to present instruction differently from how she did previously, with the expectation that the new way will be more effective and efficient. Assessments can inform instruction in one of two ways. One way is by providing information about students’ behaviors. The other way is by providing information about the teacher’s behavior.

Correct response. A behavior that meets the operational definition set forth in the targeted learning outcome (e.g., the learner wrote the sum for an addition problem comprised of two single-digit addends).

Criteria. A standard for judging a student’s skill performance (e.g., correctly states the sum for 18 of 20 addition basic facts).

Criterion. A standard against which a student’s performance is judged (e.g., correctly reading 18 of 20 consonant-vowel-consonant words).

Curriculum-Assessment alignment. A situation in which the content that is assessed is the content that comprises the curriculum a teacher taught.

Data. Information. The types of data vary greatly and include everything from relatively subjective anecdotal reports to empirical measurements of more well-defined phenomena, such as the number of lowercase letters of the alphabet a student names correctly in one minute. Hence, data include qualitative (i.e., descriptive)  and quantitative (i.e., numerical) information.

Targeted learning outcome. The focus of a lesson, which is the task or skill a student will be able to do as a result of participating in the lesson.

Task directive. A statement, presented to the student by the teacher, which indicates a task the student is to perform (e.g., the teacher says, “Say the sound this letter stands for” while showing the student an index card with the letter d; the written directions, at the top of a sheet of paper with five addition problems, which tell the student to, “Write the sum for each addition basic fact.”)

Response interval. The amount of time a student is given to respond after the teacher presents the task directive.

Mastery Measurement. An assessment that addresses the targeted learning outcome(s) for a lesson.

Progress Monitoring. An assessment that addresses all of the targeted learning outcomes that a teacher should address in one subject matter area across the entire school year. Progress Monitoring is referred to,  by some, as curriculum-based assessment.

Test, Testing. A condition under which a student is required to respond to a task directive. Testing can involve both independent and prompted student responses to a task directive. The task directive can be written or oral.

Core Concepts Pertaining to Assessment

1. Assessment involves multiple activities. Assessment is defined as the collection of data, and data refers to information. Thus, a teacher can engage in various activities that would be considered assessments. One activity is speaking with a student’s parents. If a teacher asks a parent whether her child could count to her from 1-10 at home, the parent’s response would provide the teacher with data. In turn, the teacher’s collection of these data would be one type of assessment.
2. Be clear about when you are teaching as opposed to when you are testing. A basic, straightforward definition for the term teaching is “to impart knowledge or skill.” This definition indicates that a teacher engages in a behavior that enables a student to either acquire knowledge or perform a skill. On the other hand, a test refers to a condition under which a student must respond to a directive. In other words, a teacher tells a student what to do (e.g., “Write the sum for this addition basic fact: 3+2=”), and the student is to respond accordingly. I often see a teacher conduct a lesson in which they do nothing but present a test to a student. An example is when I watched a speech-language pathologist present a student with pictures of animals preceded by the task directive, “Name this animal?” Instead, if the teacher were teaching the student, she would have shown the student each picture and modeled the animal’s name, which the student did not know. Modeling the animal’s name would have met the basic definition for the term “teaching” since the teacher was imparting her knowledge to the student.

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives pertain to the two sections below: (a) Miscellaneous Core Vocabulary and (b) Miscellaneous Core Concepts. After working through all of the content in these sections, you should be able to

• Explain the definitions of the terms systematic and transition
• Discuss the following concepts: person-first terminology, identity-first terminology, and educational significance 
• Identify the high-leverage practices in special education

Miscellaneous Core Vocabulary

This part of the chapter presents information about miscellaneous core vocabulary and concepts that pertain to the various issues related to the design and presentation of an appropriate school program for students with disabilities. Core vocabulary are presented first.

Systematic. Concerning teaching, systematic refers to clearly defined teaching procedures that others can readily replicate. More specifically, systematic refers to breaking down a teaching procedure into its components. Similarly, concerning curriculum content, systematic refers to breaking down a task into its subskills. For instance, having a student say each sound represented by a letter in a consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word and then read the word by putting the sounds together.

Targeted. That which is focused upon. Therefore, a targeted learning outcome refers to the curriculum content identified in a learning objective and is the focus of the instruction presented to a student.

Transition. A transition is a change. During a school day, teachers and students make many transitions, such as moving from one subject matter area class to another (e.g., going from a mathematics class to a science class). Other transitions involve changing from one subtopic to another during a 90-minute block lesson. For instance, during a 90-minute algebra lesson, a teacher and her students may transition from a review of the previous night’s homework to a review of division basic facts, to a whole group lesson about solving for x in a linear equation, to each student’s individual completion of a worksheet involving solving for x in five linear equations.

You need to note that the IDEA addresses the transition concerning a student with a disability moving from a secondary school setting to post-secondary settings that involve further education, employment, or independent living. The law identifies numerous tasks school personnel, the student with a disability, and the student’s parents must perform to address this transition.

Task analysis. An identification and listing of the steps that comprise a skill. An example would be a list of the steps a student must complete to find the answer to a subtraction problem involving regrouping when a single-digit subtrahend is subtracted from a double-digit minuend.

Universal effective teaching practices. Universal effective teaching practices mainly refer to behaviors a teacher exhibits during a lesson and are appropriate for use irrespective of the academic subject matter or school social behaviors that are the focus of instruction. Examples of these practices include clearly stating the learning objective, presenting material in appropriate chunks, frequently soliciting active student responses, and conducting a review at the end of a lesson. Universal effective teaching practices are evidence-based practices.

Miscellaneous Core Concepts

1. The use of person-first or identity-first terminology may be acceptable. Person-first terminology involves referencing the individual before their disability (e.g., a 4th-grade student with a specific learning disability). Identity-first terminology involves referencing an individual’s disability first (e.g., an autistic senior in high school). Presently, professionals cannot assume that all students with disabilities prefer that professionals use person-first terminology. Instead, professionals should inquire about these students’ preferences.
2. In court, data wins. Teachers must collect data about the goals and short-term instructional objectives/benchmarks in a student’s IEP. Furthermore, the data must be analyzed and acted upon to ensure that a student is realizing meaningful educational benefit from the special education services he is being provided. When this occurs, school personnel can defend their work when parents exercise a dispute resolution mechanism, such as a due process hearing, because the parents do not believe their child is receiving a free appropriate public education (FAPE). When school personnel do not collect adequate data or fail to act upon data that indicates their special education services are not providing a student with FAPE, these personnel put themselves in a position to lose a dispute resolution proceeding. The saying, “In court, data wins,” highlights the importance of data collection.
3. Statistical significance versus Educational significance. Research that identifies evidence-based practices for presenting effective instruction to students with disabilities needs serious consideration. However, not all research findings are equal. For instance, a finding that a computer-based program that costs $15,000 per student results in the presentation of effective mathematics instruction to students with disabilities would be irrelevant to most schools because they cannot afford the program’s cost. This circumstance highlights an understanding among researchers and consumers of research that a study may produce a statistically significant outcome that has no educational significance because school personnel cannot, for various reasons, implement the intervention that was a study’s focus.
4. High-Leverage Practices (HLPs). Developed by the Council for Exceptional Children and the CEEDAR Center, high-leverage practices have been described as 22 essential special education techniques that all K-12 special education teachers should master for use across various classroom contexts. These high-leverage practices have been characterized as evidence-based, frequently occurring practices that all special education teachers should know and use in their classrooms. Thus, there is a general understanding that effective special education teachers use the high-leverage practices in special education. (Source: The IRIS Center, High-Leverage Practices IRIS | High-Leverage Practices (vanderbilt.edu) Retrieved April 27, 2023). The source for the information below is: McLeskey, J., Barringer, M-D., Billingsley, B., Brownell, M., Jackson, D., Kennedy, M., Lewis, T., Maheady, L., Rodriguez, J., Scheeler, M. C., Winn, J., & Ziegler, D. (2017, January). High-leverage practices in special education. Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children & CEEDAR Center. The HLPs in special education are presented with respect to four intertwined components of teacher practice: collaboration, assessment, social/ emotional/behavioral practices, and instruction. The 22 HLPs are intended to address the most critical practices that every K–12 special education teacher should master (McKleskey et al., 2017, p. 15). These HLPs are presented below.
   

   Collaboration

   HLP1 Collaborate with professionals to increase student success. Collaboration with general education teachers, paraprofessionals, and support staff is necessary to support students’ learning toward measurable outcomes and to facilitate students’ social and emotional well-being across all school environments and instructional settings (e.g., co-taught). Collaboration with individuals or teams requires the use of effective collaboration behaviors (e.g., sharing ideas, active listening, questioning, planning, problem solving, negotiating) to develop and adjust instructional or behavioral plans based on student data, and the coordination of expectations, responsibilities, and resources to maximize student learning. (p. 17)

   HLP2 Organize and facilitate effective meetings with professionals and families. Teachers lead and participate in a range of meetings (e.g., meetings with families, individualized education program [IEP] teams, individualized family services plan [IFSP] teams, instructional planning) with the purpose of identifying clear, measurable student outcomes and developing instructional and behavioral plans that support these outcomes. They develop a meeting agenda, allocate time to meet the goals of the agenda, and lead in ways that encourage consensus building through positive verbal and nonverbal communication, encouraging the sharing of multiple perspectives, demonstrating active listening, and soliciting feedback. (p. 18)

   HLP3 Collaborate with families to support student learning and secure needed services. Teachers collaborate with families about individual children’s needs, goals, programs, and progress over time and ensure families are informed about their rights as well as about special education processes (e.g., IEPs, IFSPs). Teachers should respectfully and effectively communicate considering the background, socioeconomic status, language, culture, and priorities of the family. Teachers advocate for resources to help students meet instructional, behavioral, social, and transition goals. In building positive relationships with students, teachers encourage students to self-advocate, with the goal of fostering self-determination over time. Teachers also work with families to self-advocate and support their children’s learning. (p. 18)

   Assessment

   HLP4 Use multiple sources of information to develop a comprehensive understanding of a student’s strengths and needs. To develop a deep understanding of a student’s learning needs, special educators compile a comprehensive learner profile through the use of a variety of assessment measures and other sources (e.g., information from parents, general educators, other stakeholders) that are sensitive to language and culture, to (a) analyze and describe students’ strengths and needs and (b) analyze the schoolbased learning environments to determine potential supports and barriers to students’ academic progress. Teachers should collect, aggregate, and interpret data from multiple sources (e.g., informal and formal observations, work samples, curriculum-based measures, functional behavior assessment [FBA], school files, analysis of curriculum, information from families, other data sources). This information is used to create an individualized profile of the student’s strengths and needs. (p. 19)

   HLP5 Interpret and communicate assessment information with stakeholders to collaboratively design and implement educational programs. Teachers interpret assessment information for stakeholders (i.e., other professionals, families, students) and involve them in the assessment, goal development, and goal implementation process. Special educators must understand each assessment’s purpose, help key stakeholders understand how culture and language influence interpretation of data generated, and use data to collaboratively develop and implement individualized education and transition plans that include goals that are standards-based, appropriate accommodations and modifications, and fair grading practices, and transition goals that are aligned with student needs. (p. 19)

   HLP6 Use student assessment data, analyze instructional practices, and make necessary adjustments that improve student outcomes. After special education teachers develop instructional goals, they evaluate and make ongoing adjustments to students’ instructional programs. Once instruction and other supports are designed and implemented, special education teachers have the skill to manage and engage in ongoing data collection using curriculum-based measures, informal classroom assessments, observations of student academic performance and behavior, self-assessment of classroom instruction, and discussions with key stakeholders (i.e., students, families, other professionals). Teachers study their practice to improve student learning, validate reasoned hypotheses about salient instructional features, and enhance instructional decision making. Effective teachers retain, reuse, and extend practices that improve student learning and adjust or discard those that do not. (p. 20)

   Social/Emotional/Behavioral Practices

   HLP7 Establish a consistent, organized, and respectful learning environment. To build and foster positive relationships, teachers should establish age appropriate and culturally responsive expectations, routines, and procedures within their classrooms that are positively stated and explicitly taught and practiced across the school year. When students demonstrate mastery and follow established rules and routines, teachers should provide age-appropriate specific performance feedback in meaningful and caring ways. By establishing, following, and reinforcing expectations of all students within the classroom, teachers will reduce the potential for challenging behavior and increase student engagement. When establishing learning environments, teachers should build mutually respectful relationships with students and engage them in setting the classroom climate (e.g., rules and routines); be respectful; and value ethnic, cultural, contextual, and linguistic diversity to foster student engagement across learning environments. (p. 20)

   HLP8 Provide positive and constructive feedback to guide students’ learning and behavior. The purpose of feedback is to guide student learning and behavior and increase student motivation, engagement, and independence, leading to improved student learning and behavior. Effective feedback must be strategically delivered and goal directed; feedback is most effective when the learner has a goal and the feedback informs the learner regarding areas needing improvement and ways to improve performance. Feedback may be verbal, nonverbal, or written, and should be timely, contingent, genuine, meaningful, age appropriate, and at rates commensurate with task and phase of learning (i.e., acquisition, fluency, maintenance). Teachers should provide ongoing feedback until learners reach their established learning goals. (p. 21)

   HLP9 Teach social behaviors. Teachers should explicitly teach appropriate interpersonal skills, including communication, and self-management, aligning lessons with classroom and schoolwide expectations for student behavior. Prior to teaching, teachers should determine the nature of the social skill challenge. If students do not know how to perform a targeted social skill, direct social skill instruction should be provided until mastery is achieved. If students display performance problems, the appropriate social skill should initially be taught, then emphasis should shift to prompting the student to use the skill and ensuring the “appropriate” behavior accesses the same or a similar outcome (i.e., is reinforcing to the student) as the problem behavior. (p. 21)

   HLP10 Conduct functional behavioral assessments to develop individual student behavior support plans. Creating individual behavior plans is a central role of all special educators. Key to successful plans is to conduct a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) any time behavior is chronic, intense, or impedes learning. A comprehensive FBA results in a hypothesis about the function of the student’s problem behavior. Once the function is determined, a behavior intervention plan is developed that (a) teaches the student a pro-social replacement behavior that will serve the same or similar function, (b) alters the environment to make the replacement behavior more efficient and effective than the problem behavior, (c) alters the environment to no longer allow the problem behavior to access the previous outcome, and (d) includes ongoing data collection to monitor progress. (p. 21)

   Instruction

   HLP11 Identify and prioritize long- and short-term learning goals. Teachers prioritize what is most important for students to learn by providing meaningful access to and success in the general education and other contextually relevant curricula. Teachers use grade-level standards, assessment data and learning progressions, students’ prior knowledge, and IEP goals and benchmarks to make decisions about what is most crucial to emphasize, and develop long- and short-term goals accordingly. They understand essential curriculum components, identify essential prerequisites and foundations, and assess student performance in relation to these components. (p. 22)

   HLP12 Systematically design instruction toward a specific learning goal. Teachers help students to develop important concepts and skills that provide the foundation for more complex learning. Teachers sequence lessons that build on each other and make connections explicit, in both planning and delivery. They activate students’ prior knowledge and show how each lesson “fits” with previous ones. Planning involves careful consideration of learning goals, what is involved in reaching the goals, and allocating time accordingly. Ongoing changes (e.g., pacing, examples) occur throughout the sequence based on student performance. (p. 22)

   HLP13 Adapt curriculum tasks and materials for specific learning goals. Teachers assess individual student needs and adapt curriculum materials and tasks so that students can meet instructional goals. Teachers select materials and tasks based on student needs; use relevant technology; and make modifications by highlighting relevant information, changing task directions, and decreasing amounts of material. Teachers make strategic decisions on content coverage (i.e., essential curriculum elements), meaningfulness of tasks to meet stated goals, and criteria for student success. (p. 22)

   HLP14 Teach cognitive and metacognitive strategies to support learning and independence. Teachers explicitly teach cognitive and metacognitive processing strategies to support memory, attention, and self-regulation of learning. Learning involves not only understanding content but also using cognitive processes to solve problems, regulate attention, organize thoughts and materials, and monitor one’s own thinking. Self-regulation and metacognitive strategy instruction is integrated into lessons on academic content through modeling and explicit instruction. Students learn to monitor and evaluate their performance in relation to explicit goals and make necessary adjustments to improve learning. (p. 23)

   HLP15 Provide scaffolded supports. Scaffolded supports provide temporary assistance to students so they can successfully complete tasks that they cannot yet do independently and with a high rate of success. Teachers select powerful visual, verbal, and written supports; carefully calibrate them to students’ performance and understanding in relation to learning tasks; use them flexibly; evaluate their effectiveness; and gradually remove them once they are no longer needed. Some supports are planned prior to lessons and some are provided responsively during instruction. (p. 23)

   HLP16 Use explicit instruction. Teachers make content, skills, and concepts explicit by showing and telling students what to do or think while solving problems, enacting strategies, completing tasks, and classifying concepts. Teachers use explicit instruction when students are learning new material and complex concepts and skills. They strategically choose examples and non-examples and language to facilitate student understanding, anticipate common misconceptions, highlight essential content, and remove distracting information. They model and scaffold steps or processes needed to understand content and concepts, apply skills, and complete tasks successfully and independently. (p. 23)

   HLP17 Use flexible grouping. Teachers assign students to homogeneous and heterogeneous groups based on explicit learning goals, monitor peer interactions, and provide positive and corrective feedback to support productive learning. Teachers use small learning groups to accommodate learning differences, promote in-depth academic related interactions, and teach students to work collaboratively. They choose tasks that require collaboration, issue directives that promote productive and autonomous group interactions, and embed strategies that maximize learning opportunities and equalize participation. Teachers promote simultaneous interactions, use procedures to hold students accountable for collective and individual learning, and monitor and sustain group performance through proximity and positive feedback. (p. 24)

   HLP18 Use strategies to promote active student engagement. Teachers use a variety of instructional strategies that result in active student responding. Active student engagement is critical to academic success. Teachers must initially build positive student–teacher relationships to foster engagement and motivate reluctant learners. They promote engagement by connecting learning to students’ lives (e. g., knowing students’ academic and cultural backgrounds) and using a variety of teacher-led (e.g., choral responding and response cards), peer-assisted (e. g., cooperative learning and peer tutoring), student-regulated (e.g., self-management), and technology supported strategies shown empirically to increase student engagement. They monitor student engagement and provide positive and constructive feedback to sustain performance. (p. 24)

   HLP19 Use assistive and instructional technologies. Teachers select and implement assistive and instructional technologies to support the needs of students with disabilities. They select and use augmentative and alternative communication devices and assistive and instructional technology products to promote student learning and independence. They evaluate new technology options given student needs; make informed instructional decisions grounded in evidence, professional wisdom, and students’ IEP goals; and advocate for administrative support in technology implementation. Teachers use the universal design for learning (UDL) framework to select, design, implement, and evaluate important student outcomes. (p. 24)

   HLP20 Provide intensive instruction. Teachers match the intensity of instruction to the intensity of the student’s learning and behavioral challenges. Intensive instruction involves working with students with similar needs on a small number of high priority, clearly defined skills or concepts critical to academic success. Teachers group students based on common learning needs; clearly define learning goals; and use systematic, explicit, and well-paced instruction. They frequently monitor students’ progress and adjust their instruction accordingly. Within intensive instruction, students have many opportunities to respond and receive immediate, corrective feedback with teachers and peers to practice what they are learning. (p. 25)

   HLP21 Teach students to maintain and generalize new learning across time and settings. Effective teachers use specific techniques to teach students to generalize and maintain newly acquired knowledge and skills. Using numerous examples in designing and delivering instruction requires students to apply what they have learned in other settings. Educators promote maintenance by systematically using schedules of reinforcement, providing frequent material reviews, and teaching skills that are reinforced by the natural environment beyond the classroom. Students learn to use new knowledge and skills in places and situations other than the original learning environment and maintain their use in the absence of ongoing instruction. (p. 25)

   HLP22 Provide positive and constructive feedback to guide students’ learning and behavior. The purpose of feedback is to guide student learning and behavior and increase student motivation, engagement, and independence, leading to improved student learning and behavior. Effective feedback must be strategically delivered and goal directed; feedback is most effective when the learner has a goal and the feedback informs the learner regarding areas needing improvement and ways to improve performance. Feedback may be verbal, nonverbal, or written, and should be timely, contingent, genuine, meaningful, age appropriate, and at rates commensurate with task and phase of learning (i.e., acquisition, fluency, maintenance). Teachers should provide ongoing feedback until learners reach their established learning goals. (p. 25)

No Cost Resources Pertaining to This Topic

Each item below is a no cost resource that presents information about some aspect of this chapter’s focus, which is “Core Vocabulary and Concepts.” To access a resource, use the link provided.

Disability & Special Education Acronyms This resource is made available by the Center for Parent Information & Resources (CPIR, June 2020). The CPIR states that the disability community is full of acronyms that people constantly use in writing and in conversation, and that acronyms are used in order to abbreviate names or phrases. Thus, this resource is a list of special education and disability-related acronyms to help parents, educators, administrators and others working in the field of special education untangle the alphabet soup of special education.

Big ideas in special education: Specially designed instruction, high-leverage practices, explicit instruction, and intensive instruction This is an article from the journal TEACHING Exceptional Children. The article’s authors state that they intended to address any possible confusion among practitioners about the meanings of the terms specially designed instruction, high-leverage practices, explicit instruction, and intensive instruction.

High-Leverage Practices in Special Education This document, from the Council for Exceptional Children and CEEDAR Center, discusses core practices that the authors state can be used to leverage student learning across different content areas, grade levels, and student abilities and disabilities.