The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the main federal statute governing special education for children from birth through age 21. IDEA protects the rights of children with disabilities to a free appropriate public education (FAPE). It also supplements state and local funding to pay for some of the additional or excess costs of…

First introduced in 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) has evolved over nearly five decades, emphasizing education reform priorities that mirror the changing national education policy conversation. The most recent iteration of ESEA, also known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), was enacted in 2001. It emphasized improving…

For over 25 years, independent researchers have warned of an impending shortage of the special education (SE) faculty who staff the nation's institutions of higher education (IHEs). "The 2001 Faculty Shortage Study" (Smith, Pion, Tyler, Sindelar, & Rosenberg, 2001), which documented the imbalance between the supply of and demand for SE leadership…

This report describes specific requirements of Public Law 94-142 concerning the establishment of a Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) to ensure that qualified personnel deliver appropriate educational and related services to handicapped children and youth in Delaware. Various components of the CSPD are reviewed, including the…

The study reviewed certification-endorsement requirements for special education administrators in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Results indicated that 38 of the 51 respondents had increased their certification-endorsement requirements since 1975, though a causal relationship could not be established. (Author/CL)

This document presents national voluntary skill standards for direct service practitioners working with individuals with and without disabilities, called Community Support Human Service Practitioners (CSHSP). A rationale for such standards is presented. The skill standards are then presented, organized around 12 broad, functional themes of human…

The report provides information on the special education professional personnel in Michigan schools from 1979 through 1987. The first section covers instructional-ancillary personnel and student counts with specific information on personnel distributed by age, by assignment, by educational attainment, and by region; personnel and student ratios;…

Arguments in favor of and against the Regular Education Initiative (REI) are presented. Lack of appropriate qualifications of regular classroom teachers and a lack of empirical evidence on REI effectiveness are cited as some of the problems with the approach. (JDD)

This literature review examines alternative routes to teacher certification and presents alternative certification regulations and policies for 19 states. Three categories of nontraditional personnel preparation programs are noted: nontraditional recruitment programs, retraining programs, and alternative certification programs. A definition of…

This book proposes that, by becoming special, Great Britain's ordinary schools can move closer to meeting the individual needs of all children. It outlines the practical steps that need to be taken if ordinary schools are to meet the special educational needs of children. It addresses such issues as: the reason for a system of segregated special…

This article explores the future of special education within four contexts: service delivery systems, personnel qualifications, emerging technologies, and policy developments. The paper argues for participation by all educators in active efforts to promote "best" policies and practices for the education of all children with special needs.…

This country has few highly qualified personnel to fulfill the various state commitments to legislation mandating effective vocational programs for two special populations, i.e., persons discriminated against on the basis of racial/ethnic identity and the physically handicapped. The result of a lack of national policy in this area has been a…

Results of a national survey of state certification standards for cross-training of regular and special education teachers (n=51, including the District of Columbia) are analyzed relative to implementation of the Regular Education Initiative, a proposal that stresses increased responsibility by regular teachers in the education of handicapped…

A needs assessment instrument was developed to identify training competencies for rural special education teachers in Louisiana. The 49-item questionnaire addressed such issues as the curriculum offered by the teacher education program as well as the personal and professional characteristics necessary for success in the rural classroom. The…

This report presents the results of a recent survey of teacher preparation courses in Queensland, Australia, an analysis of the literature on course content, and recommendations. Recommendations address course content, the nature of practical training experiences, the need for institutions of higher education to reconceptualize teacher preparation…