Postmodernism, by whatever label, is intellectually bankrupt. It cannot be reconciled with a scientific view. If taken seriously, it leads to catastrophic consequences for any field of study, including special education. It also leads to malpractice in special education. Whole language instruction, radical multicultural education, and facilitated…

Most discussions about special education leadership address the work of principals and district administrators, without reference to the collective and distributed forms of leadership that have taken center stage in contemporary discussions about improving schools. To explore the contributions of and roles for teacher leadership in special…

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education (No Child Left Behind) Act is questioned with reference to the requirement that every state ensure that all special education teachers are highly qualified and are receiving high-quality professional development. The conclusion is that the act lacks clear definitions, realistic goals,…

The authors of EC 610 841 comment on problems encountered in their research, such as difficulties in analyzing interview data, and discuss their ongoing three-year study of personal and environmental influences affecting attrition of special education teachers. (DB)

Although many areas in education are experiencing teacher shortages, shortages of teachers who are qualified in the area of special education are of critical concern. This article describes a federally funded training program to alternatively license special education teachers. Fifty-nine career changers participated. They taught special education…

The preparation of special educators has changed dramatically since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was implemented. Special education teachers must deal with changes in the political contexts in which they work as well as changes in the children, youth, and families with whom they work. As a consequence of those changes, how we…

Variables related to special education teacher attrition were examined by qualitative interviews with 14 current and 10 former special education teachers. Analysis indicated that stayers were more committed to teaching students with disabilities, had a higher sense of efficacy, felt more prepared by their preservice and initial teaching…

A survey of 205 special education teachers investigated how lesson plans were developed, what components were included, and what recommendations they had for beginning teachers. Results indicated the majority did not write out their lesson plans but recommended that beginning teachers write out lesson plans. (CR)

This article discusses teachers' ability to discriminate between effective and ineffective practices in terms of some etiological macrosystem influences and possible sequelae in practice that determine likely outcomes for teaching children and youth with disabilities. The relationship between high discriminative ability and efficient and effective…

This article argues that to reduce adaptation of questionable interventions more emphasis needs to be placed on the history of special education, specifically effective and ineffective interventions. It further suggests that educators more familiar with special education history will be better prepared to discriminate effective from ineffective…

We examined writing instruction in the middle school context from the perspectives of special and general education teachers via focus groups and rating scales. We found that special and general educators alike valued a balanced approach to teaching writing, that both groups held a positive view of their teaching efficacy, and that both groups…

A telephone survey of 93 Florida teachers who did not return to their special education teaching position after the 1992-93 year, found the largest portion of teachers who left did so because they were dissatisfied with conditions of work. In addition, the majority of leavers remained in education. (Author/CR)

The authors of an article (EC 614675) on special education teachers' lesson planning reflect on concerns surrounding the traditional comprehensive lesson planning model. The article emphasizes the need for teacher education programs to train beginning teachers to develop streamlined lesson plans instead of comprehensive lesson plans. (CR)

Reflects on the findings of a survey (reported in an earlier article in this issue) of 93 teachers who left their special education teaching positions. How the data was collected is discussed as well as the factors for leaving, including lack of administrative support, significant student discipline problems, high case load, excessive paperwork,…