A model assignment was designed and tested to enhance special education teacher candidates' skills and understanding in order to improve student learning. The model includes university and school-site activities that develop teacher candidates' awareness of the relationship between on-task learning time and student achievement. Teacher candidates…

According to data collected by the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC), states are increasingly offering what they describe as a "single certificate" for early childhood and early childhood special education (i.e., certification that covers children both with and without disabilities). This document describes…

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether a similar a line of reasoning holds true for special educators. Though critical teacher shortages in the area of special education remain an ongoing problem in the United States (Billingsley & McLeskey, 2004; McLeskey, Tyler & Saunders Flippin, 2004), little work has been done on the teaching…

New demands and high attrition levels of special education teachers have created a crisis for education and extensive additional stress for special education directors and principals. The critical shortage of highly qualified special education teachers has significantly increased the pressure to hire and retain them. This article discusses factors…

In this address, the author examines what it means when one uses phrases like "evidence-based practices" and "evidence-based policies." She suggests that there is a need to re-think the meanings attached to these terms and she presents a rebuttal of the reliance on a single conceptualisation of evidence. The author then argues…

Sexuality education, part of the comprehensive school health education component of a Coordinated School Health Program, interests many health educators as well as special education teachers. In this study, Florida special educators reported their beliefs about teaching sexuality education to educable mentally disabled students, the range of…

In 1991, the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC) of the United States issued a position statement stating that assistive technology (AT) could be a useful tool for individuals with mental retardation. The Division on Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children published a position statement…

As the culturally and linguistically diverse population of the United States continues to increase dramatically, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and special education teachers in particular face the challenge of how best to assess and teach those students whose primary language is not English. The changing U.S. demographics are driving a need…

The purposes of this study were (a) to create and validate a scale measuring beliefs regarding dyslexia, (b) to use the scale to investigate the beliefs of educators regarding dyslexia, and (c) to recommend ways that educators can be better prepared to help students with dyslexia. Participants included university faculty as well as undergraduate…

The study documents what deaf education teachers know about discrete mathematics topics and determines if these topics are present in the mathematics curriculum. Survey data were collected from 290 mathematics teachers at center and public school programs serving a minimum of 120 students with hearing loss, grades K-8 or K-12, in the United…

This study serves as a pilot study for a longitudinal study that will be conducted a year later. The purpose of this research is to determine how a course in special education has impacted secondary general education pre-service teachers' attitudes towards individuals with disabilities, teaching students with mild disabilities and the degree of…

This study investigated opinions about work held by professionals in special education by comparing their views with data collected in a previous study from two other groups (career/vocational educators and social-studies educators) and by analyzing the responses of subgroups within the groups of special educators. A survey (work-concepts scale)…

Requirements under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) for teachers to be highly qualified in specific content areas in which they are teaching has resulted in an increase in the availability of state-approved "alternative routes to certification"…

In an effort to better serve the school districts within its service area and the unique credential candidate population, California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) implemented an accelerated alternative certification program based upon the Professional Development School (PDS) model hereinafter referred to as SPED PDS. During the…

This 1992-1993 survey reports on 29 master's degree granting programs for the education of deaf and/or hard-of-hearing students (EDHHPs) in North America. The survey collected information on criteria for admission, graduation, and certification; program content; and the ratios of hearing students and professionals to culturally deaf, deaf,…