SPECIAL-EDUCATION IN CONTENT AREA CLASSES - DEVELOPMENT OF A MODEL AND PRACTICAL PROCEDURES

Serving students with special needs in content area classes is a difficult issue. At the policy level, roles are not clearly articulated to help special and general educators demarcate responsibilities and working relationships. At the practical classroom level, strategies have not been clearly identified to define what and bow content information should be taught to students with special needs. This study describes the results of a pilot investigation that focused on a range of variables in serving special education students in a science classroom. Data from several sources were collected to better understand the relationship between curriculum content, instruction, and assessment. The data confirm that if students are to be helped, special educators need to better understand bow content area teachers prioritize instruction and assessment.