"There is a stronger demand than ever to provide functional curriculum for students; that is, curriculum with everyday usefulness and value in making the student more competent and independent. In addition to the focus on functional curriculum, there is a strong emphasis on showing how to tie curriculum from the elementary school to the middle school and on up into the secondary school as well as to adulthood. To this end, we think Response to Intervention is an important concept and we offer a new chapter in this regard. We believe that not enough attention has been paid to connecting the different curriculum levels so that there is a continuity of educational service for students and their families. We also believe that transitions for middle school to high school and high school to adulthood are more important than ever"--