The Practical Guide to High-Leverage Practices in Special Education: The Purposeful “How” to Enhance Classroom Rigor

Designed for teacher preparation programs as well as teacher professional development, The Practical Guide to High-Leverage Practices in Special Education: The Purposeful “How” to Enhance Classroom Rigor is the first book of its kind to introduce multiple HLPs working in tandem to implement evidence-based practices (EBPs).
 
The Practical Guide to High-Leverage Practices in Special Education is a powerful tool for those dedicated to improving student outcomes. Planned with the practitioner in mind, the text’s main objective is for teachers to recognize EBPs as “what” they teach and HLPs as “how” they teach. The book is written with a focus on inclusive education, making it a valuable resource for both general and special educators.
 
What’s included in The Practical Guide to High-Leverage Practices in Special Education:
• A focus on one HLP per chapter and descriptions of connected HLPs and
how to use them for implementing featured EBPs
• Classroom scenarios for both elementary and secondary classrooms
• Tables of the crosswalks of connected HLPs and EBPs with resources for
further learning
 
The Practical Guide to High-Leverage Practices in Special Education: The Purposeful “How” to Enhance Classroom Rigor provides educators with the understanding of how HLPs and EBPs connect to effectively implement them for student success and is also an effective teaching and learning tool for teacher education preparation programs.
 

Contents

Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Contributing Authors
Foreword by Michael J. Kennedy, PhD
Introduction
Disclaimer
 
Section I      Collaboration High-Leverage Practices
Chapter 1     Why Collaborate With Other Professionals?
                     Amy I. Gaines, MA/MS and Wendy W. Murawski, PhD
Chapter 2     I’m Supposed to Lead Meetings? How Do I Do That Well?
                     Ruby L. Owiny, PhD
Chapter 3     How Can Collaborating With Families
                     Ensure Successful Outcomes for Students?
                     Kathleen A. Boothe, PhD and Marla J. Lohmann, PhD

Section II     Assessment High-Leverage Practices
Chapter 4     How Can I Use Multiple Sources of Information to Paint
                     a Comprehensive Portrait of My Students’ Strengths and Needs?
                     Kelly Acosta, PhD; Jodie Ray, MA; Amber Benedict, PhD;
                     and Kyena E. Cornelius, EdD
Chapter 5     How Do You Become a “Steward” of Assessment
                     Information to Engage All Stakeholders?
                     Kyena E. Cornelius, EdD
Chapter 6     Does Assessment Really Drive Instruction?
                     Kyena E. Cornelius, EdD

Section III   Social/Emotional/Behavioral High-Leverage Practices
Chapter 7     How Do I Design and Maintain a Positive Learning Environment?
                     Kimberly M. Johnson, PhD
Chapter 8     What Feedback Guides “Improved” Behavior?
                     Shantel M. Farnan, EdD
Chapter 9     How Do I Teach Social Skills?
                     Jennifer D. Walker, PhD and Ruby L. Owiny, PhD
Chapter 10   What Creates and Sustains Behavior Change?
                     Ruby L. Owiny, PhD and Jennifer D. Walker, PhD
 
Section IV   Instruction High-Leverage Practices
Chapter 11   How Do I Know What Is Appropriate When Prioritizing Goals?
                     Sarah M. Salinas, PhD and Kyena E. Cornelius, EdD
Chapter 12   How Can I Ensure My Lessons Are Logically Sequenced?
                     Kyena E. Cornelius, EdD and Ruby L. Owiny, PhD
Chapter 13   How Do I Adapt Curricula and Materials?
                     Alice L. Rhodes, PhD and Victoria Slocum, PhD
Chapter 14   How Can Students With Disabilities Become
                     Strategic and Independent Learners?
                     Kyena E. Cornelius, EdD and Dana L. Wagner, PhD
Chapter 15   Does Scaffolding Support or Stifle Students?
                     Kiersten K. Hensley, PhD and Kyena E. Cornelius, EdD
Chapter 16   Can I Truly Ensure Students Learn?
                     Ruby L. Owiny, PhD
Chapter 17   How Does Student Grouping Optimize Learning?
                     Lawrence J. Maheady, PhD and Kyena E. Cornelius, EdD
Chapter 18   How Do I Keep Students Involved in Learning?
                     Ruby L. Owiny, PhD
Chapter 19   How Do I Consider Assistive and Instructional
                     Technologies in My Instruction?
                     Alice L. Rhodes, PhD and Ruby L. Owiny, PhD
Chapter 20   When Is Instruction Intensive Enough?
                     Ruby L. Owiny, PhD
Chapter 21   What Do I Need to Include so Students Maintain Their Learning,
                     Not Only for Tomorrow, but Next Week, Next Year, and Forever?
                     Jennifer A. Sears, PhD and Kyena E. Cornelius, EdD
Chapter 22   What Feedback Should We Give Students to Guide Learning?
                     Kyena E. Cornelius, EdD
 
Conclusion by Ruby L. Owiny, PhD and Kyena E. Cornelius, EdD
Financial Disclosures
Index

 
 

About the Editors

About the Authors

Dr. Ruby L. Owiny is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where she primarily teaches courses in single subject research methods and methods of teaching students with emotional and behavioral disorders, along with classroom and behavior management, with a focus on applied behavior analysis. Prior to her work at Minnesota State, Dr. Owiny was an Associate Professor at Trinity International University and the Director of the Division of Education. While at Trinity, she also designed and directed the Access Program, which supported students with autism as they completed their bachelor’s degree. Dr. Owiny believes everyone deserves to be an accepted, contributing member of their community, starting at school. This drives her professional research of inclusive education. She examines how teacher preparation programs prepare teacher candidates to implement Universal Design for Learning, High-Leverage Practices, and evidence-based practices. She has 13 years of public school teaching in Title I elementary schools in both general and special education, providing instruction in multiple teaching roles and service delivery models. She has experience consulting around the United States and in four other countries, training teachers in co-teaching and inclusive practices, such as embedding specially designed instruction into instruction in the general education classroom, Universal Design for Learning, instructional strategies, and behavioral interventions. She enjoys meeting teachers to learn about the impact they have on their students, particularly the ways they seek to meaningfully include students with disabilities and effectively provide instruction to improve post-secondary outcomes.
She is a Past President of the Teacher Education Division, and has served on multiple committees and workgroups for the Council for Exceptional Children. Dr. Owiny has been active in the Teacher Education Division caucus, Small Special Education Programs Caucus (SSEPC), for several years and, in 2022, was honored with the Nasim Dil Service Award for Outstanding Service to Teacher Education in Small Special Education Programs. She is currently chairing the workgroup that prepares resources to support student teachers who participate in the Student Teacher Support Network. She is a frequent manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Special Education Preparation, Educator Perspectives Journal, and Teachers Connecting to Advance Retention and Empowerment (TCARE). Dr. Owiny also frequently reviews books for SLACK Incorporated and Rowman & Littlefield Publishing.
In her limited free time, Dr. Owiny enjoys scrapbooking to chronicle the life of her family. She loves traveling, especially visiting her in-laws in Tanzania. Her favorite activities are being a basketball, lacrosse, baseball, and band mom for her three children. She cannot get enough of the outdoors. She takes every chance she can to camp, hike, bike, snowshoe, and enjoy a good book on the beach.
 
Dr. Kyena E. Cornelius is a Clinical Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Florida. She primarily teaches and advises students in the online EdD program. This program aligns with Dr. Cornelius’s passion of developing expert practitioners who are truly scholarly professionals. Prior to moving to Florida, Dr. Cornelius was an Associate Professor of Special Education at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where she taught courses for initial licensure programs and served as the College of Education’s Accreditation Coordinator. It was through this work that she developed her interest in teaching standards and the need for common language in our field, driving her research and  professional goals to elevate the teaching profession.
Dr. Cornelius travels the country providing professional development for in-service teachers on the High-Leverage Practices, co-teaching, and formative assessment. She is the President Elect of the Teacher Education Division of Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and currently co-leads a national workgroup commissioned by CEC for special education teacher recruitment. She is on the editorial boards and frequently reviews manuscripts for two journals: the Journal of Special Education Preparation and Rural Special Education Quarterly. She is also the co-editor for TEACHING Exceptional Children.
When Dr. Cornelius is not traveling the country for work, she is traveling to visit her children and grandchildren who live in Virginia. If she is not traveling, you can find her in the kitchen pursuing her other passion—baking. She not only bakes, she bakes with spirits, and often contemplates starting a new career/business of Kyena’s Boozy Bakery.