The effectiveness ofa postsecondary strategic learning course for improving metacognitiue awareness and regulation was evaluated through systematic program assessment. The course emphasized students' awareness of personal learning through the study of learning theory and through practical application of specific learning strategies. Students assessed personal gains through pretest and posttest assessments of both metacognitiue awareness and regulation. Pretest-to-posttest gains were statistically significant with large, meaningful effect sizes for program participants, including students with disabilities. Evidence supports the effectiveness of the program and, by extension, the value and importance of learning strategies instruction as a powerful educational intervention for students with disabilities.

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All teachers, special educators included, need to build competencies to honor and respond to the cultures of the students in their classrooms and school communities. This study of 64 pre-service teachers investigated interactions between their culturally responsive experiences specific to teaching children with disabilities and their self-efficacy for culturally responsive teaching of diverse children who qualify for special education. Participants self-rated their experiences and self-efficacy using the Culturally Responsive Special Education Experiences and Efficacy Scale which worked as a measure of self-efficacy. Variance in culturally responsive experiences explained nearly half of the variance in culturally responsive self-efficacy. Participants made very large effect size gains in both culturally responsive experiences and culturally responsive self-efficacy, though post-assessment self-efficacy remained merely moderate, indicating a next step for program improvement to increase culturally responsive experiences.