Sequence-of-tense and the features of finite tenses

Sequence-of-tense (SOT) is often described as a (past) tense verb form that does not correspond to a semantically interpretable tense. Since SOT clauses behave in other respects like finite clauses, the question arises as to whether the syntactic category Tense has to be distinguished from the functional category tense.  I claim that SOT clauses do in fact contain interpretable PRESENT tense.  The “past” form is analyzed as a manifestation of agreement with the (matrix past) controller of the SOT clause evaluation time.  One implication of this analysis is that finite verb forms should be analyzed as representing features that correspond to functional categories higher in clause structure, including those of the clausal left periphery. SOT morphology then sheds light on the existence of a series of finer-grained functional heads that contribute to tense construal, and to verbal paradigms. These include Tense, Modality and Force

Involvement and Participation of Students with Severe Disabilities in SWPBIS

With more schools implementing Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) and achieving valued student outcomes associated with these efforts, the inclusion of students with extensive and pervasive support needs (i.e., ‘severe’ disabilities) in this tiered system must be considered. These students remain programmatically and physically separated from general education instruction and activities. Given that SWPBIS is implemented in general education settings and it is designed to support all students, the purpose of this study was to investigate SWPBIS coaches’ perceptions of the involvement of students with extensive support needs in SWPBIS processes and procedures within one state. Findings suggest the coaches believe that students with extensive support needs are physically and programmatically separated from tier one SWPBIS instruction and activities, with few general educators expressing participation in facilitating their involvement. Implications and recommendations for these findings are provided

Inclusion of Students with Significant Disabilities in SWPBS Evaluation Tools

Students with significant disabilities (intellectual and developmental disabilities) are predominantly educated in separate settings, and tend to have little access to schoolwide positive behavior supports (SWPBS). In this study, we first identified the most commonly cited SWPBS evaluation tools in the literature between 2010 and 2016. The SET, TIC, and BoQ were identified as the most commonly cited. Next, these evaluation tools were analyzed for their purposeful inclusion of students with significant disabilities. Findings revealed the tools emphasize all staff and all students when describing systems and data aspects of SWPBS which have limited direct impact on students, but make allowances, such as “most students” when describing the implementation SWPBS that directly impact students, thus creating loopholes that may inadvertently permit the exclusion of learners with the most significant disabilities from fully participating in, and benefitting from, SWPBS efforts. Implications and recommendations for practitioners and researchers are provided

Teachers’ Views of their Preparation for Inclusive Education and Collaboration

There is a need to advance inclusive education for students with significant disabilities, and one way to support this effort is to ensure educators have expertise in, and are prepared to implement, inclusive practices. We surveyed and interviewed general and special education teachers to understand their experiences and preparation to demonstrate skills associated with inclusive education and collaboration and identify the factors that may contribute to their preparation. There was a relationship between educators’ preparedness for inclusive education and whether they have taken university courses or had special training on inclusive education. Analysis of interviews with a subset of participants supported this finding and provided a deeper understanding of the educators’ preparation and experiences in implementing inclusive practices for students with significant disabilities

Parent Perspectives on Special Education Services: How Do Schools Implement Team Decisions?

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine parents’ perspectives and experiences of special education, including the degree to which decisions about their child’s education were implemented as they had agreed upon with the school personnel. Additionally, a secondary purpose of this study was to understand how parents explain why school personnel do or do not implement elements of their child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). In this study, parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities described their experiences attempting to reach agreement with school personnel on decisions involving their child’s educational placement and special education services. Parents expressed a desire to be involved in decisions, and they described a desire to obtain inclusive educational placements for their children. Parents described varied experiences with the implementation of special education services. They also described both successes and concerns related to the special education services their child was receiving at school. Implications for special education policy, practice, and research are discussed from the perspective of supporting family involvement in the special education process

Parents’ experiences in education decision-making for children and youth with disabilities

Families should be an active part of educational decision-making for their children and can be particularly influential in advocating for inclusion for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Yet, significant research has shown that parents do not feel schools effectively collaborate with them. We interviewed 19 parents of children with disabilities to investigate the ways they were included and excluded from educational decision-making, and how they decided on their children’s placement and services. Five themes emerged: parents’ exclusion from decision-making, parents’ independent efforts to shape their children’s educational services, parents’ decisions as a result of school and district factors, parents’ role changes to direct their children’s education, and discrepancies between beliefs and experiences of inclusion. Parents’ responses indicate that specific school structures and institutionalized procedures may regularly exclude parents from decision-making. Results have implications for parent-professional partnership during decision-making for students with disabilities and personnel preparation

Parent identity and family-school partnerships: Animating diverse enactments for (special) education decision-making

Family-school partnerships between family members and school personnel can be successful as well as unproductive for parents who have children and youth with developmental disabilities. This qualitative study sought to capture parents’ identities as they negotiated family-school partnerships when making inclusive education decisions and discussing special education service-delivery options for their children and youth with developmental disabilities. Seventeen participants shared their personal narratives in interviews and focus groups. Data were thematically analyzed after an initial round of open-coding generated broad themes. Findings revealed the experiences parents have in partnering with schools span an identity spectrum, including: (a) victim, (b) advocate, (c) perseverer, (d) educator, (e) broker and negotiator, and (f) surrenderer. Implications for policy, practice, and research focus on parent identity and familyschool partnerships

Efficient Methods For Optimizing Hydropower Under Uncertainty

There are several sources of uncertainty in scheduling hydropower: reservoir inflows, power generation, demand and value, and the value of water remaining in storage at the end of the planning horizon. RiverWare is an object oriented modeling tool widely used for the operations and planning of large and small systems of reservoirs. Typically, short term optimization of hydropower is complicated by the need to meet a wide variety of prioritized non-power constraints and RiverWare is designed to satisfy these constraints to the extent possible. We present four different approaches that use deterministic methods combined with uncertainty models to efficiently optimize scheduling using RiverWare. 1. Load following buffers were used for coordinating uncertain wind generation with hydropower generation to meet uncertain load. 2. Chance constraints were used to model uncertain hydrologic inflows and inflows from dams controlled by other organizations. 3. Operating policies were designed to dynamically balance reservoirs with limited storage and bottlenecks to retain system flexibility while meeting anticipated load fluctuations. 4. Network stochastic programming was used to model alternative hydrologic inflow scenarios that depend on the hydrologic state. Each approach was motivated by and tested on a real system with one or more sources of uncertainty. We discuss the results and the relative advantages of each approach