Programs, materials and techniques

Abstract

Local school district programs in learning disabilities are often characterized by the use of tests and other materials that enjoy current national popularity. Such immediacy of implementation most likely will aid rapid growth in the number of students served. However, it is unlikely that appropriate care will be given to improvements in service quality where local effort is primarily dependent upon the availability of commercial systems. The “positive discontent” that leads to service improvement is usually developed by specific individuals where there is a local expectation of continuous professional growth and development. It is difficult to pin down the “quality orientation” of a local school district that seeks to develop professionally defensible programs. But the excitement of a stimulating local climate is an important factor that can prevent learning disabilities from becoming an “institutionalized job,” and will instead generate constantly improving services to children. Recognizing that service quality is ultimately tied to local implementation, the column this month focuses on a few of the many people and activities of one stimulating local climate, the Madison (Wisconsin) Public Schools. The first section describes briefly some of the elements that have been deliberately set up to promote systematic long-range planning for improving service quality. The second section is an article by Sara Pollak and Lee Gruenewald which describes the basis for a current Madison Title III project designed as an intensive pre- or inservice teacher-training program in the analysis of language interaction in academic subject areas.