Urgent, Relentless, and Goal-Directed

Kristen McMaster, University of Minnesota

One of my favorite quotes from the special education literature is from Naomi Zigmond’s article, “Special Education at a Crossroads.” She wrote,
“. . . special education is, first and foremost, instruction focused on individual need. It is carefully planned. It is intensive, urgent, relentless, and goal-directed. It is empirically supported practice, drawn from research” (Zigmond, 2001, p. 45).

I use this quote to impress upon teacher candidates their responsibility to deliver high-quality, research-based instruction that leads to meaningful progress and outcomes for the students they serve. I also use it to urge doctoral students (and to motivate myself) to do research that provides teachers with the empirically-supported practices they need to foster such meaningful progress and outcomes. 

I think the words “urgent, relentless, and goal-directed” can also drive our work as advocates for special education research, especially at this time of strange and often dismaying uncertainty. I often wonder, “What can I DO?” and, though a clear answer eludes me, it seems like persisting relentlessly in our work, with a sense of urgency and with a clear goal, is as good a strategy as anything. 

With this approach in mind, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve a second term as CEC-DR president, and to continue with many of the initiatives we started last year, including: 

• Continued efforts, in collaboration with NDD United, Friends of IES, and the CEC Interdivisional Research Group to advocate for special education research, with the goal of increasing the visibility of our work and maintaining (or increasing!) funding support. 
• Creating and disseminating a series of “Research Matters” stories to highlight the ways that special education can make a difference in the lives of exceptional children and their families. 
• Collaborating with the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) (led by Sarah Powell, chair of the Knowledge Utilization Committee) to produce a series of webinars to reach both research and practitioner audiences, with the goal of disseminating empirically-based practices and also attracting new members! 
• Continuing our new virtual student group as a way to share research ideas, network, and create collaboration opportunities for DR student members, with the goal of nurturing the next generation of special education scholars. 
• Completing the work of the short-term work group that is creating guidance for state and local school districts in the use of Single- Case Design research to identify evidence-based practices, with the goal of ensuring that schools understand and use the best available evidence to inform their selection of interventions for children with significant academic and behavioral needs. 

• Completing a special issue of Learning Disabilities Research & Practice on research on intensive intervention, featuring the work of DR members, in collaboration with the National Center on Leadership for Intensive Intervention, with the goal of contributing important knowledge to the field about promising ways to intensify intervention and future research directions in this area. 

It is my honor to continue to do this work with all of you. 


Zigmond, N. (2001). Special education at a crossroads. Pre- venting School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 45, 70–74.