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High-leverage practices (HLPs) for students with disabilities are 22 core teaching practices, defined by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the CEEDAR Center, that every educator who works with students with disabilities should be able to use: collaborating with colleagues and families, planning from data, teaching explicitly, building an organized classroom and intensifying instruction when students need more. This guide describes the current second edition (2024) and what changed from the 2017 original, lists all 22 practices by domain with plain-language explanations, gives classroom examples, compares HLPs with evidence-based practices, and shows how districts use them for observation, coaching, induction and teacher preparation.
Table of contents
Executive Summary
The current framework is High-Leverage Practices for Students with Disabilities, second edition, edited by Terese Aceves and Michael Kennedy and published by CEC and the CEEDAR Center in February 2024. It keeps the 22 practices but reorganizes them into four new domains and names six “pillar” practices to master first. It also states plainly that the HLPs are for all educators, not only special educators.
That matters because students with disabilities are in almost every classroom: in fall 2024, 68% of students ages 5 (in kindergarten) through 21 served under IDEA spent 80% or more of the day in general classes, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Key Takeaways
- Use the 2024 second edition: the 2017 domains (collaboration, assessment, social/emotional/behavioral, instruction) have been reorganized, and only Collaboration keeps its name.
- Four domains: Collaboration; Data-Driven Planning; Instruction in Behavior and Academics; Intensify and Intervene as Needed.
- Six pillars first: HLPs 1, 3, 6, 7, 16 and 20 are the practices CEC calls the most essential to master.
- No practice was removed: the other HLPs became “embedded” practices that support the pillars.
- HLPs are not a program: they are the teaching moves that make evidence-based programs and specially designed instruction work.
- Districts get value from them when they drive observation, coaching and induction, not when they sit on a poster.
What Are High-Leverage Practices?
A high-leverage practice is a teaching practice that is fundamental to student learning, used frequently, and can be taught to and learned by educators entering the profession.
The idea came from general education researchers. The second edition quotes Windschitl and colleagues (2012), who defined HLPs as “a set of practices that are fundamental to support K-12 student learning, and that can be taught, learned, and implemented by those entering the profession.” Researchers including Deborah Ball of the University of Michigan wrote a general education set, now on the TeachingWorks site. CEC, CEEDAR and partners then wrote a largely new set for students with disabilities, first published in 2017 under team leads James McLeskey and Mary-Dean Barringer. The second edition says it is inaccurate to treat one list as “for general education” and the other as “for special education”: both are for all educators.
The Current Edition: HLPs for Students With Disabilities, Second Edition
The second edition grew out of a meeting of field leaders at CEC headquarters in late summer 2023 and was published in February 2024, with funds from the CEEDAR Center’s grant from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). CEC posts the full book as a downloadable PDF on highleveragepractices.org, which calls it “HLP 2.0.” No newer edition was posted as of October 2026.
What Changed From the 2017 Edition
| Feature | 2017 edition | 2024 second edition |
|---|---|---|
| Name | HLPs for Special Education | HLPs for Students with Disabilities, for all educators |
| Domains | Collaboration; Assessment; Social/Emotional/Behavioral; Instruction | Collaboration; Data-Driven Planning; Instruction in Behavior and Academics; Intensify and Intervene as Needed |
| Priority | 22 practices presented side by side | Six pillar practices and supporting embedded practices |
| Goal setting and lesson design (HLPs 11, 12) | Instruction domain | Moved to Data-Driven Planning |
| Behavior practices (HLPs 7 to 10) | Their own domain | Domain eliminated; HLPs 7, 8 and 9 moved to instruction, HLP 10 to intensification |
| Feedback (HLPs 8 and 22) | Two separate practices, behavior and learning | Presented together as one embedded practice |
| Culture and context | Mostly implicit | Culturally inclusive pedagogies and practices (CIPP) built into every domain |
| Examples | General, any K-12 setting | Elementary and secondary examples for each practice |
The editors give the reasons: users asked which practices to prioritize, teaching 22 practices to a new teacher proved very difficult, and the original paid limited outward attention to diverse students and families. No HLP was eliminated; the goal was to reorient educators “to the most essential practices on the list.”
The 22 High-Leverage Practices by Domain
Titles follow the list on CEC’s HLP website; the explanations are summaries written for this guide. Pillar practices are the ones CEC asks educators to master first; embedded practices support them.
Domain One: Collaboration
| HLP | Title | Role | In plain words |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collaborate with Professionals to Increase Student Success | Pillar | Plan, teach and solve problems with general educators, paraeducators and specialists, using student data |
| 2 | Lead Effective Meetings with Professionals and Families | Embedded | Run IEP and planning meetings with an agenda, time limits and real participation |
| 3 | Collaborate with Families to Support Student Learning and Secure Needed Services | Pillar | Make families partners, explain processes and rights, and advocate for the services students need |
Domain Two: Data-Driven Planning
| HLP | Title | Role | In plain words |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Use Multiple Sources of Information to Develop a Comprehensive Understanding of a Student’s Strengths and Needs | Embedded | Build a learner profile from tests, observations, work samples and families |
| 5 | Interpret and Communicate Assessment Information with Stakeholders to Collaboratively Design and Implement Educational Programs | Embedded | Explain results so families and colleagues can help design the program |
| 6 | Use Student Assessment Data, Analyze Instructional Practices, and Make Necessary Adjustments that Improve Student Outcomes | Pillar | Check data often and change the teaching, not only the student’s goal |
| 11 | Identify and Prioritize Long- and Short-Term Learning Goals | Embedded | Decide what matters most from standards, data and IEP goals |
| 12 | Systematically Design Instruction Toward Learning Goals | Embedded | Sequence lessons so each one builds on the last toward the goal |
Domain Three: Instruction in Behavior and Academics
| HLP | Title | Role | In plain words |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Establish a Consistent, Organized, and Respectful Learning Environment | Pillar | Teach and reinforce clear routines and expectations, built on respectful relationships |
| 16 | Use Explicit Instruction | Pillar | Explain, model, guide practice and give feedback until students can do it alone |
| 9 | Teach Social Skills | Embedded, what to teach | Teach social, emotional and behavioral skills directly: tell, show, practice |
| 14 | Teach Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies to Support Learning and Independence | Embedded, what to teach | Teach strategies students use on their own to plan, monitor and check work |
| 21 | Teach Students to Maintain and Generalize New Learning Across Time and Settings | Embedded, what to teach | Plan practice in the places and situations where the skill will be needed |
| 8 and 22 | Provide Positive and Constructive Feedback to Guide Students’ Learning and Behavior | Embedded, how to teach | Give timely, specific, goal-directed feedback on work and on behavior |
| 13 | Adapt Curriculum Materials and Tasks | Embedded, how to teach | Adjust tasks and materials, including accommodations and modifications, to the goal |
| 15 | Provide Scaffolded Supports | Embedded, how to teach | Add temporary visual, verbal or written supports, then remove them |
| 17 | Use Flexible Groupings | Embedded, how to teach | Change group size and makeup by purpose, with real instruction in each group |
| 18 | Use Strategies to Promote Active Student Engagement | Embedded, how to teach | Give every student frequent chances to respond and participate |
| 19 | Use Assistive and Instructional Technology | Embedded, how to teach | Select technology, including AAC, that removes barriers to learning |
Domain Four: Intensify and Intervene as Needed
| HLP | Title | Role | In plain words |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Provide Intensive Instruction | Pillar | Small groups, few high-priority skills, explicit and well-paced teaching, frequent progress checks |
| 10 | Conduct Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBAs) to Develop Individualized Behavior Support Plans (BSPs) | Embedded | Find what triggers and maintains a behavior, then teach a replacement that serves the same need |
HLP 10 connects directly to IDEA procedures; see our guides to the functional behavior assessment and the behavior intervention plan.
High-Leverage Practices in the Classroom: Pillar Examples
The examples below are original, written for this guide about fictional students and teachers; adapt them to your grade levels and content.
| Pillar | Elementary example | Secondary example |
|---|---|---|
| HLP 1 | A third-grade teacher and the special educator spend 20 minutes a week reviewing reading data and dividing next week’s small groups | A biology teacher and a co-teacher choose a co-teaching model for each lesson in a unit |
| HLP 3 | A teacher sends Leo’s family a short weekly note in their home language with one skill to practice | A case manager asks Ana’s parents which job interests to build into her transition planning |
| HLP 6 | After three flat data points on Sam’s fluency goal, the team changes the practice routine, not only the goal | An algebra teacher reviews exit tickets and reteaches one step to six students the next day |
| HLP 7 | Morning arrival is taught step by step and practiced for the first two weeks, with specific praise | A ninth-grade class co-writes three norms for discussion and the teacher reinforces them each period |
| HLP 16 | A teacher models a subtraction strategy with a think-aloud, guides two problems, then lets students try one alone | An English teacher models how to find evidence in a paragraph before students annotate their own |
| HLP 20 | Four students who did not respond to small-group phonics get daily 20-minute lessons on two target skills, with weekly checks | A student with a math IEP goal works in a group of three on fraction operations, with frequent responses and immediate correction |
The pillars stack: HLP 6 decides who needs HLP 20, HLP 16 is how HLP 20 is taught, and HLP 1 is how teachers share the work, as in co-teaching models.
High-Leverage Practices and Evidence-Based Practices
Evidence-based practices (EBPs) are specific interventions with research support for a defined group and outcome; for autistic learners, the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice identified 28 in 2020. HLPs are broader teaching moves that cut across programs. The second edition notes that some HLPs, such as explicit instruction, are also known evidence-based practices whose principles appear in several evidence-based reading and mathematics programs.
IDEA asks that IEP services be “based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable” (34 CFR 300.320(a)(4)): the EBP is often the what, and the HLPs are how a teacher delivers it. A 2022 systematic review of meta-analyses by Nelson and colleagues found the most evidence for intensive instruction, explicit instruction and social skills, and few meta-analyses on collaboration and assessment.
HLPs and Specially Designed Instruction
Specially designed instruction (SDI) means adapting content, methodology or delivery to a student’s needs (34 CFR 300.39(b)(3)). HLP 11 sets the goal, HLP 12 sequences lessons, HLPs 13 and 15 adapt and scaffold, HLP 16 teaches explicitly, and HLP 6 checks whether it worked. The second edition describes the Data-Driven Planning domain as creating “an individualized instructional plan that includes goals and designs around specially-designed instruction.” For examples by subject, see specially designed instruction examples; for writing goals that HLP 11 can work from, see the guide to IEP goals.
How Districts Use High-Leverage Practices
Observation and Feedback
CEC and the CEEDAR Center publish a leadership guide for each HLP, for administrators, coaches and mentors who want to embed the practices in professional development, teacher observation and feedback. The HLP 1 guide, for example, lists what effective collaborators do, tips for school leaders and questions to prompt observer feedback. Districts can turn such lists into walkthrough look-fors for the pillars, so every observer looks for the same things.
Coaching and Professional Learning
The second edition cites research showing that single-day professional development is not effective, and that educators change practice when they learn together and refine it through reflection. In practice: model a pillar, rehearse it, observe it in class, give feedback, repeat.
Induction and Mentoring
Billingsley, Bettini and Jones (2019) argue that structuring special education teacher induction around HLPs, through mentoring, teacher evaluation and collaboration, sends new teachers more coherent messages about effective instruction. The second edition notes that the pandemic brought large numbers of new educators into the field with little or no formal preparation.
Teacher Preparation and Paraeducators
CEC publishes faculty guides for educator preparation programs, and researchers describe embedding HLPs in field experiences (Grobart and Zepp, 2024), so districts hosting student teachers can align mentor feedback with the same practices. For paraeducators, CEC offers a learning program on effective and high-leverage practices with the Paraprofessional Resource and Research Center and CEEDAR. A district training plan is in our paraprofessional training guide.
Funding and Staffing
| Source | What it can support |
|---|---|
| IDEA Part B (district) | Personnel development: districts must ensure that all personnel needed to carry out Part B are appropriately and adequately prepared (34 CFR 300.207) |
| IDEA Part B (state set-aside) | Technical assistance, personnel preparation and professional development (34 CFR 300.704(b)(4)(i)) |
| IDEA CEIS (up to 15% of Part B) | Professional development on scientifically based academic and behavioral interventions (34 CFR 300.226(b)(1)) |
The HLP book and guides are free to download. The cost is staff time for coaching, scarcest where shortages are worst: 45 states reported special education teacher shortages in 2024-25 (Learning Policy Institute, 2026).
Common Mistakes District Leaders Make
- Training on the 2017 version. Even CEC’s laminated guides still carry the old domain names.
- Teaching all 22 at once. The second edition exists partly because that does not work.
- Treating HLPs as special education only. CEC presents them as practices for all educators.
- One-day workshops with no follow-up. Practice changes through rehearsal, observation and feedback.
- Confusing HLPs with programs. Buying a curriculum does not deliver explicit instruction.
- Observing without shared look-fors, so feedback varies by evaluator.
- Skipping the collaboration pillars. Few meta-analyses cover collaboration, which does not make HLPs 1 and 3 less important.
Recommended Actions
- Replace 2017 materials with the 2024 second edition across professional development.
- Pick two pillars per year for districtwide focus, such as HLP 16 and HLP 6.
- Build walkthrough look-fors from the CEC leadership guides for those pillars.
- Run coaching cycles of model, rehearse, observe and feedback for new special educators.
- Include general educators and paraeducators in HLP training.
- Align mentor and student-teacher feedback with the same practices.
Questions District Leaders Should Ask
- Which HLP edition do our training materials and observation tools use?
- Which pillar practices are we focusing on this year, and how will we know they improved?
- Do general education teachers and paraeducators receive HLP training too?
- Does every new special educator have a mentor who gives feedback on specific HLPs?
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 22 high-leverage practices?
They are the practices CEC and the CEEDAR Center identified as essential for teaching students with disabilities, grouped in four domains: collaboration (HLPs 1 to 3), data-driven planning (4, 5, 6, 11, 12), instruction in behavior and academics (7, 8, 9, 13 to 19, 21, 22) and intensify and intervene as needed (10, 20). The full titles and plain-language explanations are in the tables above.
How many high-leverage practices are there?
There are 22 numbered practices. In the 2024 second edition, HLP 8 and HLP 22, both about feedback, are presented together, and six practices are named pillars: HLPs 1, 3, 6, 7, 16 and 20. No practice was removed in the update. The general education list on the TeachingWorks site is a different set.
Why are high-leverage practices important?
They give teachers, coaches and preparation programs a short, shared description of effective teaching for students with disabilities, instead of an endless list of programs and strategies. Because most students with IEPs spend most of the day in general classes, a common language across general and special educators helps students get consistent instruction.
What are the four domains of high-leverage practices?
In the 2024 second edition the domains are Collaboration, Data-Driven Planning, Instruction in Behavior and Academics, and Intensify and Intervene as Needed. They replace the 2017 domains of collaboration, assessment, social/emotional/behavioral practices and instruction; only Collaboration keeps its name. Each domain has at least one pillar practice and supporting embedded practices, and culturally inclusive pedagogies and practices run through all four.
What is the difference between high-leverage practices and evidence-based practices?
An evidence-based practice is a specific intervention with research showing it works for a defined group and outcome, such as the 28 practices identified for autistic learners. A high-leverage practice is a broader, frequent teaching move, such as explicit instruction or flexible grouping, that teachers use across programs and subjects. Teachers combine them: the HLPs are how an evidence-based practice gets delivered well.
Can AI help teachers learn high-leverage practices?
CEC links to a custom HLP chatbot from its HLP website, and general AI tools can draft practice scenarios, explicit instruction scripts or reflection questions for a coaching cycle. They do not replace rehearsal and observed feedback. Keep student names and records out of prompts unless the district has approved the tool. See our ChatGPT for teachers guide.
Related Resources
- Co-Teaching Models
- Specially Designed Instruction Examples
- Autism Classroom Setup
- Functional Behavior Assessment
- Social Skills Activities
- IEP Data Collection Sheets
Conclusion
High-leverage practices give districts a common definition of effective teaching for students with disabilities. The 2024 second edition makes them easier to use: four domains, six pillars to start with, and one message that every educator is responsible for them. Districts that retire the 2017 materials and tie a few pillars at a time to observation, coaching and induction turn 22 practices into everyday teaching.
Sources: Aceves and Kennedy (Eds.), High-Leverage Practices for Students with Disabilities, 2nd edition, CEC and CEEDAR Center (February 2024); CEC, High-Leverage Practices: The Structure (4 Domains/22 HLPs); CEC, HLP 1: Collaborate with Professionals to Increase Student Success; CEEDAR Center and CEC, HLP 1 Leadership Guide; McLeskey et al., High-Leverage Practices in Special Education, CEC and CEEDAR Center (2017), ERIC record; Nelson et al., A Systematic Review of Meta-Analyses in Special Education: Exploring the Evidence Base for High-Leverage Practices, Remedial and Special Education (2022), ERIC record; Billingsley, Bettini and Jones, Supporting Special Education Teacher Induction through High-Leverage Practices, Remedial and Special Education (2019), ERIC record; Grobart and Zepp, Embedding High-Leverage Practices into Special Education Field Experiences, Journal of Special Education Preparation (2024), ERIC record; Steinbrenner et al., Evidence-Based Practices for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Autism, NCAEP (2020); U.S. Department of Education, OSEP, 2024-25 Static Tables (Part B Child Count & Educational Environments). Sections of 34 CFR Part 300 are linked where they are cited.
Join the 2027 Special Education Pilot
Explicit and intensive instruction, two of the six pillars, both depend on frequent chances to respond with feedback, and no teacher can give every student enough of them in one period. Telo AI is being adapted for students with IEPs: patient, 1-on-1 practice aligned to each student’s IEP goals, with teachers setting the goals, topics and rules. We are inviting districts to shape it with us in a 2027 pilot.
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