Special education professionals serve as facilitators of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team meetings. As special educators serve on many IEP teams during the course of an academic year, and as the member composition for each team varies, facilitators are confronted with a unique set of challenges to managing successful meetings. In this…

There is a need to advance inclusive education for students with significant disabilities, and one way to support this effort is to ensure educators have expertise in, and are prepared to implement, inclusive practices. We surveyed and interviewed general and special education teachers to understand their experiences and preparation to demonstrate…

Given recent increased attention to teacher evaluation, it is imperative to understand the expertise teachers need to educate students with severe disabilities. In this grounded theory study, the authors interviewed nine special education faculty who specialize in severe disabilities about the job-related skills and qualities exhibited by expert…

Given the current climate of accountability, teachers must collaborate across disciplines to meet the diverse needs of students. Few, however, are prepared to collaborate in school settings upon completing teacher preparation programs. In this article, a participatory action research study undertaken by teacher educators who approached the lack of…

The pilot study investigated the stage of 67 secondary special education teachers' concerns about cooperation with vocational education and the relationship between years of teaching experience and the level of those concerns. Multiple regression analysis indicated a statistically significant relationship between total concern score and years of…

This study examined changes in the beliefs and practices of three special-education teachers over the course of their participation in a three-year collaborative literacy project. Results suggest that teacher change is a long-term process, evolving from an early focus on enacting activities to an increasing emphasis on changing the broader…

Describes a system of four separate but interdependent school-university consortia that have been developed as part of the special education department's reform and restructuring initiatives in a Florida university. The rationale for the consortia, barriers to their implementation, and their missions, activities, and governance structures are…

Examines six school-university partnerships developed between the special education department of the University of South Florida and surrounding school districts, and delineates key factors contributing to their progress. Challenges to partnerships are discussed, including the establishment of parity and the role of personal values in developing…

Evaluation of a metacognitive model designed to promote cooperative instruction among 10 regular education and 10 special education preservice teachers found slight changes in attitudes and perceptions. The model included opportunities for cooperative prelesson planning and postlesson evaluations by prospective teachers, and actual delivery of…