Some Resources for Using Research in Your Teaching

In working with my college students who are training to become special education teachers, I like to help them find easy ways to use research to evaluate and select teaching strategies. I recently put together a list of some resources to keep up with current research and trends, so I thought I would share them here too. Here are the resources that I share with my classes:

1. Practitioner Journals

I’m describing these as journals that publish articles with practical applications of research, written for teachers working in the classroom or school. Typically, an article will be about a specific topic, such as teaching money skills students with autism. The article will often summarize relevant research into steps/strategies for teachers to use, along with examples with hypothetical students and teachers. These are a great way to keep up with current research trends and approaches without needing to read all of the individual studies. Of course, I recommend looking at these as well if you have time. Examples of practitioner journals are as follows. You can look up a professional organization for any teaching field and see what publications they offer. Teaching Exceptional Children, published by the Council for Exceptional Children The Special Educator e-Journal, published by The National Association of Special Education Teachers Mathematics Teacher, published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Science and Children, published by the National Science Teaching Association American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Journals 2. Blogs and Newsletters from Professional Organizations Professional teaching organizations may also have blogs and newsletters that describe effective teaching strategies and trends in the field. Here are some examples. You can look up a professional organization for any teaching field and see what publications they offer. National Association of Special Education Teachers Week in Review Blogs and Newsletters from the Council for Exceptional Children National Science Teaching Association e-Newsletters Mathematics Teacher Blog Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School Blog American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Newsletter

3. Autism National Standards Report

This project reviews different intervention methods for students with autism and groups them by how much research they currently have to support them. https://www.nationalautismcenter.org/national-standards-project/ 4. Google Scholar This is a search engine for research studies. You can search for articles on any topic and see if the full-text of the article is available. Some articles will have full-text available and some will not, but it’s worth a search. https://scholar.google.com/

5. What Works Clearinghouse This U.S. government initiative reviews existing research on different educational programs, products, practices, and policies. Their goal is to provide educators with the information to make research-based educational decisions. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/ 6. Association for Science in Autism Treatment This organization publishes research reviews about different intervention methods for students with autism. https://asatonline.org/