A national survey of and telephone interviews with parents of children served by dual-certified vision education professionals was conducted to determine the parents' perspectives on the efficacy of this service delivery model for students with visual impairments. The study identified the parents' perceptions of the effectiveness of these…

The special education field is challenged by a lack of attention to and recruitment of well-trained language interpreters in schools. As such, special education teachers need to take a leadership role in working with interpreters to ensure diverse families are collaborative members of individualized education program (IEP) teams. Using the…

Special education teachers and related service providers were interviewed for their perspectives on Greek special education policies and practices and how these influenced their job preparation and duties. Specifically, they were asked about the impact of the following on their jobs: Greek law related to the education of students with…

The authors note that identification as having emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) is generally acknowledged to be stigmatizing. The stigma associated with identification as needing special education for EBD (or any other disability) could be reduced by talking in readily understood language about differences, accepting the reality of…

The purpose of this study was to examine Turkish prospective primary teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and readiness for their future roles and responsibilities as inclusive classroom teachers. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate how these roles and responsibilities relate to future teaching practices. In addition, this study examined…

Practicum experiences, a crucial component of preservice teacher preparation, help establish the foundational knowledge and skills necessary for beginning special education teachers (SETs). Preservice SETs need cooperating teachers (CTs) who support preservice SETs in proper emotional development (i.e., feeling like a teacher), who can model and…

Students with disabilities are included in the nearly two million students who attend school online (Queen & Lewis, 2011). Like many families, parents of children with disabilities are increasingly considering online schools as an option for their child's education. Online schools may be more attractive to parents of students with disabilities…

Despite the importance of special educators in the current era of educational reform, there is no overarching portrait of special educators' roles, especially in rural schools where the provision of services is especially challenging. Using latent class analysis and data from a national sample of rural school districts, we identified four distinct…

This research gave voice to teaching assistants, exploring their experiences and perceptions. A small-scale case study approach was adopted, which aimed to interpret and explain human actions and thought through descriptions, capturing first person accounts. Qualitative data was collected from two focus group interviews. Participants were employed…

The purpose of this case study was to gain a deeper understanding of the perceptions of the feasibility of employing the five models of co-teaching (Friend & Cook, 1995) through the co-teachers' experience and how this affected both the relationship between co-teachers and student outcomes. This research addressed a literature gap not…

Within the educational research community, there have been a growing number of published research studies in teacher education that adopt a self-study approach. Researchers suggests that self-study in teacher education has the potential to animate the idea of teaching as reflection, model an inquiry-based approach to pedagogy, and generate rich…

Schools across the United States are confronted with the critical demand for highly effective teachers to address the needs of the increasing numbers of diverse learners in their classrooms. In response, school systems are looking beyond the traditional four-year degree student to individuals who are entering the teaching field from other…

Discursive practices enacted by educators in kindergarten create a blueprint for how the educational trajectories of students with disabilities get constructed. In this two-year ethnographic case study, I critically examine educators' relationships with students considered to present challenging behaviors in one classroom located in a…

Because of the important role secondary special educators have in the transition to adulthood of adolescents with disabilities, it behooves educators to have an understanding of human development. The lifespan perspective on human development is particularly relevant to transition planning. Individuals with a lifespan perspective believe…

New Teacher Evaluation and Support Systems were fully implemented in every public school during the 2012-13 school year. Rhode Island educators have had a significant voice in revising the Student Learning Objective (SLO) process for the 2013-14 school year. Through surveys, focus groups, working groups, principal shadows, regional meetings, and…