This article describes the challenges in organizing professional learning communities (PLCs) in special education, identifies the teacher and student benefits of using a PLC approach to professional development, and discusses the promise and pitfalls of organizing web-based PLCs to engage distributed stakeholders in the practice of special education. The author used two Web 2.0 applications, a wiki and a Ning, to provide the infrastructure and support community-building efforts. Although the PLC membership has grown to about 200 members during the past four years, data collected via Web 2.0 show that most of the members participate as observers only, relying almost entirely on the network administrator to direct and manage all facets of community work. The development of web-based PLCs to support the practice of special education may be dependent upon the building of school-based leadership in addition to the meaningful participation of school administrators and teacher educators in community work.

It seems logical that teachers would want classrooms that consist of positive interactions among all class members. Indeed, the literature suggests that teachers prefer positive interventions over punishment as a means to manage classroom behavior (e.g.

The practice of special education is defined by the principle of inclusion, a principle that is satisfied when general and special educators engage in a shared practice that has a positive impact on the achievement of every student in the general education classroom (Friend & Bursuck, 2012). Special education teachers are not required to have grade or content area expertise but are instead charged with the responsibility to be active and resourceful as they seek out how language, culture, and familial backgrounds interact with exceptional conditions to impact students' academic and social abilities, attitudes, values, interests, and career options at every grade level and in all classrooms that include students with disabilities who may exhibit a wide range of educational abilities and instructional needs (National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, [NCATE], 2008). Thus mastering an inclusive practice begins with mastering the

This study was conducted to describe the moral judgment of 12 third-through fifth-grade children with and without emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and to explore how feelings affected their thought processes. Data were gathered via three individually conducted moral dilemma interviews with each child participant. These procedures produced 2,107 moral judgments that were coded and submitted to an analysis using case study research methodology. The results showed that 10 of the children voiced an egocentric moral orientation and that only 2 voiced a developmentally typical cooperative moral orientation. The children also described how caring, just relationships engendered feelings of happiness and love and inspired a sense of moral autonomy while harsh, unjust relationships fueled feelings of anger, sadness, and fear and led to prescriptions of disobedience and retaliation. The implications of the results are discussed with respect to the importance of children's experiences in inclusive classroom communities.