Regular class teachers' perceptions of transition programs for EMR students and their impact on the students

This study was designed to obtain the perceptions of regular class teachers who taught children who had been in EMR programs, but had been decertified (D) and returned to regular classes in response to court cases and recent legislation. A cohort of regular class (RC) students were selected for comparative purposes. It was found that D students were placed into low ability classes; yet, teachers perceived D subjects to be significantly lower than RC students in both academic achievement and social acceptance. Only a small proportion of teachers indicated that the enrollment of D students had much impact on the regular class instructional program. However, the teachers were rather critical of the services received under the auspices of a transitional program, indicating in large part that the services were either not apparent or ineffective.     

Follow-up of high-risk children identified in kindergarten through direct classroom observation

Sixty-one children, originally identified at the beginning of kindergarten on the basis of 4 distinct clusters of observable classroom behavior, were evaluated at completion of first grade. Teacher ratings and individual achievement test scores partially confirmed the predictive validity of the original clusters. Children in the nonrisk cluster continued to do well, while children in the high-risk cluster were still doing poorly in some areas. An unexpected finding was that children in another cluster, originally seen as nonrisk, also seemed to be in some difficulty. Concerns about specific aspects of observable behavior were discussed.