Kimberly Nix Berens, Ph.D.

Center for Advanced Learning, Inc. and University of Nevada - Reno

The practices of accommodation dominate special education programs in this country. Special education typically involves putting accommodations into place for struggling learners, such as lessening homework loads or providing more testing time. Unfortunately, these strategies have little to do with modifying instructional strategies in ways that ensure skill mastery. On the contrary, such practices tend to handicap students further and ensure that they will never catch-up to their peers. However, there are many effective, alternatives to traditional special education practices that result in rapid and profound learning gains for students with disabilities and challenges. Precision Teaching, Direct Instruction, and Curriculum-Based Measurement are instructional methods either stemming from or compatible with behavior analysis, all of which have extensive clinical and research bases supporting their effectiveness. The current presentation will outline the major characteristics of each approach and will illustrate how, when used together, these methods can move struggling learners at least one grade level in 40-hours of instruction. Implications for special education reform will be discussed.