This article provides an overview of standards that have been developed for special educators, shares the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee program standards, discusses the ways in which they are used in teacher preparation, and suggests ways in which practicing teachers could use these or similar standards for ongoing professional development.…

Describes how focus groups that included 32 special and regular education teachers were used in conjunction with questionnaires to evaluate and revise a Collaborative Teaching Master's Program. The use of focus groups to complement the use of questionnaires in the revision and improvement of programs is discussed. (Author/CR)

A district-university partnership program provides an alternative route to teacher certification for noncredentialed special education teachers working in a rural California desert region. The program features locally available courses, on-campus summer courses, an alternative internship credential, collaborative structure, a coach-of-coaches…

This article describes the development of a preservice program at the University of Florida to prepare teachers for inclusive education. Emphasis is on the team building experience of two elementary teacher educators and two special education teacher educators; the challenges; and the importance of establishing social relationships, persisting…

A reference work that presents a chronology focusing on special education, its development, and the important issues that both positively and negatively affect the field. Updated through current events, this second edition provides an excellent introduction to special education in all of its practical aspects--how it developed, its curriculum,…

Concerns for social justice have called Catholics and others to be compassionate and supportive to children with disabilities by establishing schools and other learning opportunities to nurture this population. Special education as a field has developed over the past 40 years. This study examines the incidence, context, and nature of special…

The research study presented here was conducted by two educational technology faculty members, one from special education and the other from general education, and their respective undergraduate classes. This study applied an action research model (Hubbard & Power, 1999; Mills, 2000), coupled with a pre and posttest design, in examining the…

Project RAISE (Rural America Institute for Special Educators) was a preservice teacher training program specifically designed for preparing special educators for the demands of rural settings. The project was conducted by the Department of Special Education at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and concentrated on training special educators in…

To gain more information about the skills needed and used by teachers of students with serious emotional disturbances (SED), 19 teachers of students with SED were surveyed to determine the amount of time, level of importance, and perceived adequacy of training received on 20 teacher competencies in 6 major task areas. In addition, follow-up…

This Digest explores facets of collaboration between general and special education teachers that are different from earlier models. Inclusion of students with disabilities into the same class has brought about teams of general education and special education teachers working collaboratively or cooperatively to combine their professional knowledge,…

This paper examines the ways in which individuals have been prepared for work in special education by focusing on the Boston, Massachusetts, public schools from 1870 through the 1920's. During this period, selected teachers and teacher candidates were recruited and prepared for specific assignments as instructors of children with disabilities.…

Fourteen learning disabilities (LD) teachers and 17 counselors at 31 secondary schools completed a questionnaire concerning their roles in preparing students with learning disabilities for postsecondary education. The open-ended questionnaire covered the following topics: who has primary responsibility for providing transition services, what…

California State University (CSU) at Chico developed a teacher credentialing program to provide culturally diverse, certified special education teachers for 12 rural counties in northern California. These counties are sparsely populated; include remote areas with difficult access; and contain large Hmong, Meo, American Indian, and Hispanic…

The impact of changes in the special education environment on the role of the resource teacher are discussed, such as trends toward placing students with special needs within regular classrooms, delivering programs to learners with a wider range of instructional needs, and collaborating in delivery of classroom instruction. Consequent shifts in…

To address the shortage of special education teachers, California State University (CSU), Chico in collaboration with rural, isolated school districts in CSU's service area, designed a two-year, on-the-job training program that recruited, prepared, and supported new special education teachers. Candidates, selected collaboratively by the University…