Research
NCLB & IDEA
The mandates within No Child Left Behind (NCLB 2001) and the individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA 2004) make it clear that ALL students are expected to participate and make progress in the
general curriculum. These mandates are often perplexing for educators of students with the most severe
disabilities. The depth and complexity of state academic content standards seem far from reach for these
students. Teachers are faced with how to adapt curriculum materials into an accessible and meaningful
manner. Consequently, instruction is frequently based on an individual teacher's perspective of what is
appropriate at the time without full knowledge of what was taught in the past, or what the future expectations will be.
The Unique Learning System is based on years of classroom experience, teacher input, and study of effective
learning strategies for students with the most significant disabilities. The following guiding principles
are embedded within this program as a belief system, as was as an expectation of what successful learning will look like.
- Standards-based instruction provides an effective avenue to assure that students are participating in a systematic and progressive learning process.
- There must be a strong expectation that all students can benefit from literacy learning in order to enhance their life-time opportunities.
- When teachers are provided with core instructional materials, they can more readily focus on a student's individual learning needs.
Research
The Unique Learning System has been developed based on current research-based
information that promotes access to standards-based learning and literacy instruction.
This review will highlight specific referenced literature and research as it applies to
the general education population as well as the known related literature and research for
students with significant disabilities.
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