O ver a 10-year period, three separate, but related, statelevel policy initiatives were implemented in Vermont in an effort to reform special and general education through improving student performance and increasing the capacity of general education to support students in general education classrooms to the greatest extent possible. The first of these, known as Act 230, was designed to increase the capacity of general education teachers to serve students with disabilities and those at risk of academic failure in their classrooms, thereby reducing a perceived overreliance on the special education system (Kane et al., 1995). At the heart of the legislation was a mandate for the establishment of a comprehensive system of supports known as the Educational Support System (ESS) and within it, an interdisciplinary team known as the Educational Support Team (EST) that functioned as a prereferral team and a link to services and interventions available through the ESS. Other essential elements of Act 230 included (a) new and more restrictive eligi-81

This case study describes how a high-poverty, linguistically and culturally diverse elementary school came to embed mindfulness in its curriculum and what adults perceived to be the outcomes of the program on students’ well-being. This qualitative case study is based on 25 interviews with teachers, administrators, and community members; classroom observations; and relevant documents. Participants indicated that practicing mindfulness improved student well-being through greater self-awareness and increased ability to articulate their emotions and needs, select strategies to self-regulate, and generalize their practice of mindfulness to out-of-school settings. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Vesicular-arbuscular (VA) mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal sweet potato plants [Ipomoea batatas (L,S) Lam, cv.White Star] were grown in a glasshouse in a phosphorus (P)-fixing soil in order to (i) establish the chronology of mycorrhiza-mediated P uptake, (ii) document the distribution of total and metabolically active external hyphae in relation to roots, root hairs and P-depletion zones at the time when the P-uptake response first becomes apparent, (iii) evaluate the pore-size distribution of the soil relative to the radii of roots, root hairs and hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi, and (iv) determine if sweet potato mycorrhiza alter the organic acid composition of the rhizosphere. Phosphorus inflow, VA mycorrhizal root colonization, and active hyphae increased during the first half of an 8 wk experiment. During the latter half of the experiment, however, colonization and active hyphae increased while P inflow decreased. Roots colonized by mycorrhizal fungi supported a higher proportion of active hyphae in the soil than non-colonized roots. In a second experiment, hyphal distribution around individual roots colonized by mycorrhizal fungi was not consistently difl^erent from hyphal distribution around non-colonized roots. Hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi were of a diameter that would allow them to penetrate pores that hold water at water contents less than field capacity while roots, and to a large extent root hairs, would be excluded from these pores. We found no evidence that sweet potato roots, whether or not they were colonized by mycorrhizal fungi, altered the organic acid composition of the rhizosphere, W^e conclude that mycorrhiza mediated P uptake commenced vvith the onset of colonization by the fungi and was due to a change in the ability of the root to come into contact with the soil solution.

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We conducted a study using mixed methods to explore implementation of reform legislation and related outcomes for students with disabilities and those placed at risk of school failure. Designed to promote equal educational opportunities, the legislation included provisions for (a) redistributing state funding so that schools would have more equal access to resources and (b) requiring all schools to adopt and use state standards and standards-based assessments. Almost one fourth of the public schools in the state participated in the study, including schools that gained, lost, or were not affected by the redistribution of state education funds. A cross-case analysis identified both benefits and challenges for students with disabilities and those placed at risk of school failure, suggesting a need to ensure that reforms focus on outcomes for all students and include adequate resources and professional development opportunities for educators and administrators in both general and special education.