The Affordances and Constraints of Special Education Initial Teacher Licensure Policy for Teacher Preparation

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda P. Blanton ◽  
Mildred Boveda ◽  
Lorena R. Munoz ◽  
Marleen C. Pugach
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Teacher Licensure ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Complex Needs ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
High Standards

Initial licensure polices in special education were examined to determine how these policies support or hinder reform efforts to develop teacher education programs that prepare graduates for the increasingly complex needs of diverse students. Initial special education licensure policies are described with an emphasis on the differences across states on two key options: whether licensure for special education teachers is a stand-alone initial license or whether the state requires a general education license prior to obtaining a second license in special education. As the field grapples with how best to prepare both general and special education teachers who can teach to high standards for students with disabilities, the influence of these options is examined in relation to four contemporary issues facing special education and the trade-offs that accrue when a particular licensure option is adopted.

What Are High-Leverage Practices for Special Education Teachers and Why Are They Important?

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 331-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
James McLeskey ◽  
Bonnie Billingsley ◽  
Mary T. Brownell ◽  
Lawrence Maheady ◽  
Timothy J. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Initial Attempt ◽  
Preparation Programs

Improving educational outcomes for students with disabilities and others who struggle in school largely depends on teachers who can deliver effective instruction. Although many effective practices have been identified to address the academic and behavioral needs of students who struggle in school, including those with disabilities, these practices are not used extensively in classrooms. This article provides a rationale for and description of major changes that are occurring in teacher preparation programs that are designed to improve the practice of beginning teachers. This is followed by a description of a set of high-leverage practices that was recently approved by the Council for Exceptional Children. These practices represent an initial attempt to delineate a core curriculum for special education teacher preparation to support the changes that are occurring in teacher education.

Attitudes and Attributes of General Education Teachers Identified as Effective Inclusionists

1997 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myrna R. Olson ◽  
Lynne Chalmers ◽  
John H. Hoover
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
School Principals ◽  
General Education Teachers ◽  
Administrative Practices ◽  
Insufficient Time ◽  
Interpersonal Warmth

School principals and special education teachers identified general education teachers who were the most skilled at including students with disabilities in their classrooms. After 10 individuals identified by both principals and special educators were interviewed, seven themes emerged. These teachers (a) described their own personalities as tolerant, reflective, and flexible; (b) accepted responsibility for all students; (c) described a positive working relationship with special educators; (d) reported adjusting expectations for integrated students; (e) indicated that their primary inclusionary attitude was showing interpersonal warmth and acceptance in their interactions with students; (f) felt that there was insufficient time available for collaboration; and (g) expressed reservations about fully including all students. Results are discussed in terms of teacher preparation, administrative practices, implications for increased inclusion, and suggestions for further research.

Pedagogical Practices in Teaching Students With Disabilities in Inclusive Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 66-86
Author(s):  
Pankaj Khazanchi ◽  
Rashmi Khazanchi
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Rehabilitation Professionals ◽  
Related Service ◽  
Diverse Student Population

Today's inclusive education settings consist of a diverse student population that needs a different pedagogical approach. Both general education and special education teachers may face difficulties to engage students in meaningful tasks and to promote learning. Teachers may struggle to effectively reach all students with different abilities in an inclusive education setting. Teachers implement several strategies to keep students engage in inclusive education settings. Teachers do multiple tasks, such as teaching students, developing engaging lessons, assessing and tracking students' learning, collaborating with teachers and rehabilitation professionals, implementing evidence-based strategies, and delivering instructions in various formats. Inclusive education needs administrators, related service providers, general education teachers, and special education teachers to optimize students' learning. This chapter aims to highlight pedagogical practices in teaching students with disabilities in inclusive education settings.

Preparing Teachers for Special and General Education through Case-based Instruction: An Analysis of their Perceptions, Learning, and Written Cases

1992 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-47
Author(s):  
Mark P Mostert ◽  
James M Kauffman
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
General Education ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Behaviour Management ◽  
Based Instruction ◽  
Case Based

Case-based teaching is one way of responding to the challenge of preparing general and special education teachers for the roles they are to assume. We discuss the rationale for case-based instruction and described our efforts to use this approach in teaching a course in behaviour management. Our impression is that although case-based instruction is a promising approach, it has limitations in teacher preparation. It is promising in that it gives voice to teachers’ practical knowledge and helps students become more reflective about teaching practice. It appears to be particularly limited as an approach with trainees who have no prior classroom experience, and it is no substitute for a working knowledge of basic principles.

Special Education Teacher Attrition and Retention: A Review of the Literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 697-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie Billingsley ◽  
Elizabeth Bettini
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Teacher Attrition ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Teacher Shortages

High rates of attrition make it challenging for schools to provide qualified special education teachers for students with disabilities, especially given chronic teacher shortages. We synthesize 30 studies from 2002 to 2017, examining factors associated with special educator attrition and retention, including (a) teacher preparation and qualifications, (b) school characteristics, (c) working conditions, and (d) teacher demographic and nonwork factors. Most studies examined working conditions (e.g., demands, administrative and collegial supports, resources, compensation) among special educators who left teaching, moved to other positions, transferred to general education teaching, or indicated that they intended to stay or leave. The majority of researchers used quantitative methods to analyze national, state, or other survey data, while eight used qualitative methods. Our critique identifies both strengths and weaknesses of this literature, suggests research priorities, and outlines specific implications for policy makers and leaders.

scholarly journals Transforming Special Education Teacher Education: A Reaction to the Report Transforming Teacher Education through Clinical Practice: A National Strategy to Prepare Effective Teachers

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Newton ◽  
Michael J. Kennedy ◽  
Christine Walther-Thomas ◽  
Jake Cornett
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Effective Teachers ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Education Teacher ◽  
Social Success ◽  
Achievement Data

Policy makers, university teacher education faculty, school leaders, and government officials are asking the same question: How do we recruit, prepare, and retain effective teachers who will produce desired student outcomes in every classroom? This complex question garners distinct opinions depending on the queried stakeholder, but most agree that significant improvement is needed in the processes of teacher preparation and induction (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Greer & Meyen, 2009; Sykes, Bird, & Kennedy, 2010; Wang, Odell, Klecka, Spalding, & Lin, 2010). An argument can be made that the need for improvement is most urgent within the field of special education teacher preparation (Brownell, Sindelar, Kiely, & Danielson, 2010; Piper, 2007; Pugach, Blanton, & Correa, 2011; Simonsen et al., 2010; Sindelar, Brownell, & Billingsley, 2010) . To illustrate, recent achievement data for students with disabilities provides striking evidence of the critical need for improvement in areas of literacy, graduation rates, and other postsecondary outcomes (e.g. National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2009; Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Levine, & Garza, 2006). There is substantial variability in the numerous factors that contribute to the struggles of students with exceptionalities on measures of academic and social success (see Skiba, Poloni-Staudinger, Simmons, Feggins-Azziz, & Chung, 2005; Wagner et al., 2006). Many complex factors influence a teacher's impact on student achievement, which leads to the need for us to continue to examine and reform our current models of teacher preparation. Thus, teacher educators and practitioners must continue to investigate and evaluate the effects of new and existing policies, programmatic structures, and individual practices on outcomes of interest and disseminate those findings. Although calls to reform teacher education and P-12 instruction for children with exceptionalities are not new (Vaughn & Fuchs, 2003), it is clear that new thinking is needed to overcome traditional barriers to academic and social success for individuals with exceptionalities. However, despite the critical need for improvement, teacher preparation models within special and general education largely remain fixed to traditional methods that reflect the status quo as opposed to evidence-based practice (Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb, & Wycoff, 2009; Brownell, Griffin, Leko, & Stephens, 2011; Sykes et al., 2010).

scholarly journals The Inclusive Education: Policy Issues and Challenges. The Rights in the Amended Special Edu- cation Law in Israel (1988)

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-23
Author(s):  
L. Shaked
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Special Education Law ◽  
Education Law ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Restrictive Environment

This paper discusses the effects of Special Education law (1918) in Israel and amendments followed in 2002; 2018 on school placement policy and attitudes toward inclusion. The critics on differential budget to different setting that the budget doesn’t support the least restrictive environment concept and inequality in the allocation of resources among students in special education and students integrated in the regular education lead to the amendment nr.11 of Special Education law. Present paper argues that while state policy makes an ongoing effort to increase access to general edu- cation by innovative legislation, increasing the state funding in order to accommodate and meet the needs of students with disabilities in inclusive education the practices of educational institutions perpetuated exclusion from general education. For regular teachers to feel confident in their ability to teach all students, a change in teacher preparation programs should be implemented. A change in teacher preparation programs still needs a profound reform.

Relationships Between Novice Teachers’ Social Resources and Workload Manageability

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Bettini ◽  
Nathan D. Jones ◽  
Mary T. Brownell ◽  
Maureen A. Conroy ◽  
Walter L. Leite
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
General Education Teachers ◽  
Social Resources ◽  
Instructional Interactions ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Feeling Overwhelmed

Novice special education teachers (SETs) consistently report feeling overwhelmed by their workloads, and their perceptions of their workloads predict outcomes of concern, such as burnout and plans to quit teaching. Yet, to date, research provides few insights into feasible strategies school leaders could use to help novices better manage workloads. Therefore, we examined how school social resources contribute to novice SETs’ and general education teachers’ (GETs) perceptions of workload manageability. We found that novice SETs’ perceptions of workload manageability were predicted by instructional interactions with colleagues and schools’ cultures of collective responsibility for students with disabilities, but not by instructional interactions with mentors. The pattern of relationships differed for GETs, suggesting different populations of novices may benefit from different supports.

scholarly journals UAE Teachers’ Awareness & Perceptions of Testing Modifications

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hala Elhoweris Elhoweris ◽  
Negmeldin Alsheikh
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
General Education Teachers ◽  
Moderate Level ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Study Results

The objectives of this study were threefold: (a) to determine whether the Unit-ed Arab Emirates (UAE) general and special education teachers were making any specific testing modifications for students with disabilities; (b) to survey UAE general and special education teachers’ perceptions of testing modifications in terms of their usefulness, easiness, and fairness; and (c) to explore possible differences between general and special education teachers’ aware-ness and perceptions of testing modifications. Two hundred and eleven UAE general and special education teachers participated in this study. Results re-vealed that participants have a moderate level of awareness of testing modifications when assessing students with disabilities. Additionally, UAE teachers as a group perceived testing modifications as easy to make and fair. Statistically significant differences were found between general and special education teachers where special education teachers were found to be more informed than general education teachers.

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