To adequately prepare competent certified special education teachers, teacher preparation programs must incorporate early co-taught fieldwork experiences for preservice teachers to engage and acquire practical co-teaching and collaborative skill sets. As extant research has focused more on in-service teachers' co-teaching, existing studies on…

To adequately prepare competent certified special education teachers, teacher preparation programs must incorporate early co-taught fieldwork experiences for preservice teachers to engage and acquire practical co-teaching and collaborative skill sets. As extant research has focused more on in-service teachers' co-teaching, existing studies on…

This dissertation explores teacher and paraeducator training with a specific focus on generalization of training outcomes and social validity. Chapter 1 presents brief background information to introduce the research questions posed in Chapters 2, 3, and 4. Chapter 2 presents a systematic literature review of educator training studies that…

The call for research in the special educator preparation community is needed to help provide successful strategies to support effective teaching and student learning (Brownell et al., 2019). The purpose of this study was to better understand the impact of a learning environment for pre-service educator self-efficacy and their implementation of…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on special education student teachers while they were doing the practicum. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to analyze interviews of 11 special education teachers who completed their practicum experience in the spring of 2020, when the…

This exploratory, mixed-method study investigated how strength-based approach to mathematics instruction (SBAMI) influences the academic optimism of general education and special education pre-service teachers (PSTs). Academic optimism, linked to student achievement in previous research, was used as the theoretical framework. Data included…

Field experiences during teacher preparation are fundamental to helping teacher candidates understand their future roles and responsibilities and can effectively prepare them to meet diverse student needs across a variety of contexts. This multiple case study examined the perspectives of three special education dual certification teacher…

This dissertation combines three complementary studies that focused on the assessment and determined the quality of the written performance feedback practices and processes used by university supervisors with special education teacher candidates (SETCs) to improve their practice during field experiences. In the first study, a systematic review of…

To address chronically low rates of academic achievement among students with disabilities, as well as the high rates of burnout and attrition among special educators, new models for educator professional learning are critically needed. The EXPERT professional learning (EXPERT-PL) model aims to develop early career special educator expertise in DBI…

Writing is one of the most important forms of communication we have, yet many find it to also be one of the most challenging tasks to do, and in the case of educators, to teach. Becoming a proficient writer is one of the most important lifelong skills teachers can help students develop, but many educators do not have ample preparation to teach…

A lack of teacher preparation for working with racially, culturally, ethnically, economically, and/or linguistically diverse (RCEELD) students is viewed as potentially playing a role in the issue of disproportionality in special education (Griner & Stewart, 2013). The conducted case study aimed to fill an existing gap through providing…

Within the public school setting, campus administrators are not only expected to serve as instructional leaders for special education teachers but also to provide dedicated support and guidance to those teachers to foster an inclusive and enriching learning environment for students with diverse needs all while fulfilling the legal requirements…

The purpose of this study is to explore special education teacher and teacher educator perceptions of the Standard Outcome Lesson and Reflection (SOLAR) Guide. Even though research shows that special education teachers need the skill of curriculum mapping in their roles in the classroom, a dearth of research has identified effective ways to help…

This study investigated how early childhood special education teacher candidates described their professional identities. Professional identity is how individuals think about and act as members of the profession, and it has the potential to impact instructional practice and decisions to stay in the field. Through a qualitative thematic analysis of…

The current study looked to understand the lived experience of special education teachers who work with children and young adults with disabilities in a non-academic setting (NAS). The study explored relationships between the learning experience and the teachers' self-efficacy in the setting. The experience of pre-service and in-service special…