The purpose of this study was to present issues relating to the achievement of general education students in inclusion settings. Specifically, the study addressed the following question: Does the full-time inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms affect the achievement outcomes of non-disabled general education students in such settings? The variable under investigation in this study was achievement of general education students in third, fourth, and fifth grade inclusion classes--heterogeneous groupings of students with disabilities and their non-disabled general education peers. The comparison classes were those with only non-disabled general education students--homogeneous groupings. The dependent variables were achievement measures obtained from the Vocabulary, Spelling, Reading Comprehension, Language, Social Studies, and Science subtests of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. The results of this study suggest that there are differences in achievement of non-disabled general education students from inclusion classrooms and those of similar non-disabled general education students on all six subtests. The most notable results were at the fifth grade level. / Ed. D.

Research evidence exists to support the implementation of learner-centered approaches in technological usage and in teaching methodologies. This chapter uses qualitative observation data on implementation of learner-centered approaches in technology integrated classrooms collected by two participant observers. Findings indicate that the problems that some instructional technology researchers in the past decade have found still persist despite the extensive technology professional development designed to enhance the use of technology in a learner-centered approach. The TPACK framework which is used as a guide to effective technology integration has not been fully utilized by many who offer professional development or those who design technology courses at teacher preparation programs. Two major problems noted in observation notes are: 1) those who provide professional development do not begin with the background of the TPACK framework; 2) the TPACK framework is usually discussed in isolation of other frameworks such as the UDL framework.

This chapter examines the challenges to 21st century content preparation and pedagogy from the perspective of teaching professionals from different African countries: Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. Specifically, the chapter explores the views and experiences of the participants during and after teacher preparation programs. Findings reveal common challenges, specific 21st century skills that are overlooked, and those not yet fully integrated in teacher preparation programs. The chapter offers suggestions for improvement based on the views of participants, research-based literature review, and best practices in teacher preparation programs.