Research-Based Strategies for Improving Outcomes in Academics

Research-Based Strategies for Improving Outcomes in Academics, 1e is an authoritative collection of the best techniques known to work for students with disabilities.A volume unlike any other, it helps practitioners, teacher-educators, and policymakers combat the gap between research and practice by gathering the most meaningful findings regarding academic outcomes in a single source. Written by leading authorities, chapters offer a consistent format that includes definition of strategy, theoretical underpinnings, description, fidelity checklist, and research-based summaries. Sections cover a range of academic areas such as language development, literacy, mathematics, and written expression. 

David J. Chard is Leon Simmons Endowed Dean of the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development and Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Southern Methodist University.  Dr. Chard has been the principal investigator on several federal research projects including response to intervention (RTI), reading, reading comprehension instruction, and early childhood mathematics. Since receiving his Ph.D. in 1995 from the University of Oregon, he has been awarded state and federal research and training grants totaling over $10 million. Dr. Chard has published more than 90 articles, monographs, book chapters, and books on instructional interventions and modifications in reading, mathematics, and expressive writing. He is a member of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities, the American Mathematical Association, and a Past President for the Division for Research at the Council for Exceptional Children. He is the author of numerous instructional programs on reading, early literacy intervention, language arts, and mathematics spanning K-12 education and has been a classroom teacher in California, Michigan, and in the U. S. Peace Corps in Lesotho in southern Africa.

Bryan G. Cook is presently a Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He earned his PhD in special education at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Dr. Cook and his colleagues have guest edited a number of special issues of journals on topics related to research-based practices in recent years, including of a 2003 special issue of Journal of Special Education, a 2008 special issue of Intervention in School and Clinic, a 2009 special issue of Exceptional Children, and a 2010 special issue of Intervention in School and Clinic. Dr. Cook is currently the chair of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Workgroup on Evidence-based Practices and President of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Research, as well as Associate Editor of the journal Remedial and Special Education. He is the recipient of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Research 2007 Distinguished Early Career Research Award and the 2008 James M. Kauffman Publication Award (with Melody Tankersley).

Rumrill, P. D., & Cook, B. G., & Wiley, A. (Eds.) (2011). Research in special education: Designs, methods and applications (2^nd ed.). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

Cook, B. G., & Schirmer, B. R. (Eds.). (2006). What is special about special education: The role of evidence-based practices. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.

Rumrill, P. D., & Cook, B. G. (Eds.) (2001). Research in special education: Designs, methods and applications. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

Melody Tankersley, PhD, is a professor of special education at Kent State University. After earning her doctorate degree from the University of Virginia, she was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, a program affiliated with the University of Kansas. Prior to beginning her graduate studies, Dr. Tankersley taught students with emotional and behavioral disorders, a population of students who continue to be the focus of her instructional and scholarly endeavors. Dr. Tankersley focuses her scholarship on issues related to identifying and using evidence-based practices, academic and behavioral interventions, the prevention of emotional and behavioral disorders, and parent interventions. Dr. Tankersley and her colleague from the University of Hawaii, Dr.  Bryan Cook, were recently awarded the James M. Kauffman Publication Award, presented by the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education for a scholarly work that results in knowledge leading to exemplary special education practices.