Western Michigan University

This project is designed to complete validation research on the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills for identifying whether a student has a primary language impairment or language-based learning disability and to develop profiles of students' language and literacy strengths and weaknesses. Unlike existing measures, the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills will assess both spoken and written language, be curriculum related and inform instruction, be easy and efficient t...

The purpose of this project is to develop an intervention for escape-motivated problem behavior. The intervention will teach children to request breaks from demanding tasks and to comply with task requests. Although several interventions (e.g., extinction, differential reinforcement of alternate behavior, functional communication training, demand fading) for escape-motivated problem behavior in individuals with disabilities already exist, each has weaknesses that can limit its utility. An in...

The purpose of this project was to gather evidence about the changes in methodology that occur between the design and implementation of cluster randomized trials (when groups are randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions) used in education research. Specifically, the researchers examined the changes from what is planned to what is implemented in: (1) the research design; (2) sample sizes; (3) outcome measures; (4) the intervention itself; and (5) expected rates of attrition. The r...

The Kalamazoo Promise is a scholarship program for students who have attended Kalamazoo Public Schools. Announced in November 2005, the Kalamazoo Promise provides four years of tuition and fees at any of Michigan's public colleges or universities. Funded by a group of anonymous donors, the program seeks to remove financial barriers to attending college for those students who have attended Kalamazoo public schools and have lived within its boundaries for at least four years. Because all Kal...