Patti R. Albaugh

Our first issue of JTIR showcases action research conducted as capstone projects for the MAE Curriculum and Instruction and the MAE Reading degrees at Otterbein College. The featured articles and the portrait of classroom practice demonstrate teachers' efforts to help their students interact with curriculum in meaningful ways.

All the teachers in this volume of JTIR address the challenges of working with special populations. In an effort to make her curriculum available to all her students, Patty Randall developed a unique “collection box” system that emphasized focus points for her seventh grade writers. She wondered if limiting the feedback and making concrete the students’ writing tasks would be successful. Kelly Wood helps to answer the question that all teachers ask: Does this program do what it purports to do? She wanted to know if the district-adopted math program worked for her learning disabled students. Eileen Tamasavich asked about her high school vocational education students, “What role does intrinsic motivation play in a reading program?” Her results are thought-provoking. Amanda Solether practiced the art of reflective practitioner; she probed into the results of a standards-based, assess-teach-assess model for reading instruction for her fourth grades.

Enjoy learning from these thoughtful teachers, as we did.

Patti R. Albaugh, Ph.D. and Karen S. Robinson, Ph.D., Editors

Digging for Gold by Patty Randall

Motivating High School Special Needs Students with Significant Reading Problems by Eileen Tamasovich

Effects of SuccessMaker Math on Students with Learning Disabilities in Inclusive and Special Education Classrooms by Kelly Wood