This science program, offered to all undergraduate students at the University of Iowa as an alternative to the traditional science core courses, is a three-course sequence designed primarily for elementary and special education majors. The program utilizes a student-structured laboratory setting with its main goal the development of a science…

Intended as a companion volume to "Guidelines for Personnel", the casebook, developed by the Professional Standards and Guidelines Project of the Council for Exceptional Children, contains about 150 summaries of exemplary and innovative programs in the areas of personnel recruitment and selection, preparation, certification, and professional…

So that vocational teachers will be able to deal effectively with special needs students, higher education must plan and develop adequate personnel preparation at the preservice level. Seven strategies for vocational/special needs teacher education program development are given. (MF)

Resources discussed and listed in this paper are primarily print materials in two main categories: (1) special needs personnel preparation (teacher education) and (2) special needs vocational instructional programs. The author provides an overview of sources useful for planning and implementing teacher education programs. (MF)

Mentoring teams, based on mentor-professor and peer coaching team concepts, used in the undergraduate teacher education (including special education) program at the University of Tennessee, have resulted in improved overall program functioning, coordinated advising, and more complete knowledge of student competency. (Author/CB)

The 1982 position paper of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities provides recommendations concerning preparation of professional personnel. Major recommendations include periodic evaluations of training programs and faculty, establishment of interdisciplinary training programs, structuring of practica to enable students to…

A survey regarding the participation of minority students in university programs offering certification and degrees in education of the visually-impaired found that most teachers trained by the 19 responding institutions were White and female. The annual participation rate of minority students was fairly constant at about 7.5 percent. (Author/CB)

This study evaluated the relative effectiveness of two forms of performance feedback with 27 college juniors enrolled in a training program for teachers of mildly handicapped students. Computer-based feedback was demonstrated to be more effective than the traditional field note approach in influencing students to alter their teaching behaviors.…

A survey of 298 administrators of special education training programs found that 56 percent of the programs required special education majors to complete a health education course, while 77 percent of the administrators felt that special education majors would benefit from health education coursework. (Author/JDD)

The article describes postsecondary education programs in the Province of Alberta, Canada, for training individuals to work in paraprofessional and professional positions in community services for disabled children, adults, and their families. A career ladder in Rehabilitation Education provides advancement through study at the bachelor's,…

Two issues in early childhood special education personnel development (personnel shortages and state certification policies) are examined via a literature review and a survey. Both competency and experiential based certification policies are studied. Recommendations are made for developing appropriate certification/competency requirements and…

The article discusses a competency-based training program for regular teachers who are mandated to receive mildly handicapped children in their classes. The program is built around eleven audiovisual modules and leads to competencies in developing individualized instruction.

This final report describes the activities and accomplishments of a 3-year federally funded project at the University of Florida concerned with the multidisciplinary preparation of physical and special educators in adapted physical education for children with low-incidence disabilities. The project supported, per semester, 10-15 masters students,…

Distance learning can be a useful approach for preparing teachers who are mid-career changers or who are working on limited licenses, especially in rural areas. At Indiana University, the Collaborative Teacher Education Program uses multiple distance education technologies to provide special education teacher preparation in mild (high-incidence)…

Institutions of higher education must collaborate with other educational institutions to provide inservice and preservice teacher development activities. The New Jersey Mainstream Inservice Project comprises 50 local education agencies and several colleges and universities. It holds promise as a model for teacher training efforts and provides…