Contemporary challenges confronting special education teachers include, in part, workload, role ambiguity, evaluation, and shortages. Based on these and other challenges, the piece-meal fragmented approach to pre- and in-service training, which exists currently, needs to be replaced with 21st century models of special education teacher development that are seamless, technology enabled, comprehensive, cohesive, and career spanning. In this article, the authors briefly address persistent and unresolved challenges, identify contemporary change drivers, and discuss ways in which teacher education professionals could leverage the drivers to inform the development of 21st century models for special education teacher development aimed at improving outcomes for students with disabilities. Change drivers include the digital revolution, the diversity gap, the credibility factor, the demand for collective impact, and the culture of we. The authors conclude with a call to action.

To explore the relationship between theory and practice in evaluation, we focus on the perspectives and experiences of student evaluators, as they move from the classroom to an engagement with the social, political, and cultural dynamics of evaluation in the field. Through reflective journals, postcourse interviews, and facilitated group discussions, we involve students in critical thinking around the relationship between evaluation theory and practice, which for many was unexpectedly tumultuous and contextually dynamic and complex. In our exploration, we are guided by the following questions: How do novice practitioners navigate between the world of the classroom and the world of practice? What informs their evaluation practice? More specifically, how can we understand the relationship between theory and practice in evaluation? A thematic analysis leads to three interconnected themes. We conclude with implications for thinking about the relationship between theory and practice in evaluation.

We conducted a content analysis to examine trends in articles published between 1996 and 2014 in two journals—Teacher Education and Special Education (TESE) and the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE). Across both journals, we coded 1,062 articles categorically based on multiple attributes (e.g., type, topics, methodology, funding, geographic location, and student outcomes). We then analyzed these data using visual inspection, magnitude of trend, and percent of change. Most notably, we confirmed reductions in nonempirical articles, survey research, qualitative inquiries, and program descriptions. By contrast, we observed increases in articles that included P-12 student outcomes and in quantitative research, as well as in topics of in-service, global, and clinical experiences. Taken together, these findings allow us to chart a path forward for teacher development research, policy, and practice.

Instructors across a variety of contexts and levels utilize formative assessments to measure students' progress toward meeting learning outcomes. Formative assessments are how instructors gauge whether their students have mastered content or skills or if they require additional practice and support. The purpose of this chapter is to explain how three elementary education professors utilize technology-based activities as formative assessments within their classrooms. In this chapter, the authors address the importance of using formative assessment in higher education classrooms and provide illustrative examples of how various technologies can be used as assessment tools. These examples will include game-based activities (e.g., Kahoot), presentation platforms (e.g., Nearpod), and organizational tools (e.g., Padlet). The goal of this chapter is to help support instructors in higher education who wish to incorporate technological activities while using them as formative assessments when teaching students.

The purpose of this chapter is to explain how a course, Teaching of Reading and Writing, uses its key course assessment to enhance preservice teacher candidates' appropriation of diverse children's literature. In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of the Teaching of Reading and Writing course and the key course assessment, an interactive read-aloud with a diverse book. Additionally, the authors provide a rationale for why exploring and using high-quality diverse literature is intentionally embedded within the assignment. The chapter also includes a description of how the authors support their teacher candidates' appreciation of diverse children's literature through scaffolded instruction and text evaluation. The authors share their candidates' experiences with the interactive read-aloud as well as successes, challenges, and next steps for this assignment.