The authors trace changes in conceptions of special education teacher quality and preparation in response to developments in special education research, policy, and practice. This developmental arc is a backdrop for understanding contemporary special education practice and charting future directions for preparing special education teachers. Federal policy, and recent research on teaching and learning, and the response-to-intervention (RTI) movement require a shift in thinking about how to prepare quality special education teachers and the expertise they need to be effective. To function effectively in RTI and fulfill federal highly qualified teacher requirements, special education teachers must master an increasingly complex knowledge base and sophisticated repertoire of instructional practices. The authors contend that preservice preparation is inadequate for this purpose and that preparation for special education teaching should build upon an existing knowledge base and demonstrated competence in classroom practice.
The authors consider the future of special education personnel preparation by responding to an overarching question: What frameworks might teacher educators use as a basis to promote special education teacher effective performance now and in the future? In answering this question, they summarize current trends in the context of schooling and special education (i.e., Common Core State Standards [CCSS], multi-tiered systems of support [MTSS]) and what these contexts demand of special education teachers. The authors propose a practice-based model for fostering effective special education teacher performance. Grounded in the science of learning, the model includes approaches in teacher education that align with this literature. Implications for implementing the model are provided, which recognize current constraints on schools and colleges of education, to better promote this model for fostering effective performance.
This article presents the findings from a pilot study exploring the use of video as a self-reflection tool combined with high-quality, collaborative professional development (PD). Participants were in-service, upper-elementary, special education instructors teaching word study and fluency to students with learning disabilities. Participants watched multiple video-recordings of their instructional practice throughout one school year and reflected on their video by: rating their instruction, noting what worked, and making suggestions for future lessons. Findings indicated that teachers' self-reflections changed from overestimations of their practice to more critical self-examinations. Their comments initially were vague but became more descriptive over time. Four teacher groups emerged in the analysis, ranging from teachers who did not believe they needed to improve their practice to teachers who became instrumental in conducting their own research about what worked in their practice. Overall, video self-reflection combined with high-quality PD was a positive tool for enhancing teacher change.
Two professional development (PD) models for teachers were compared on teacher and student outcomes. Special education teachers participated in Literacy Learning Cohorts (LLC), a PD innovation designed to improve content and pedagogical knowledge for providing reading instruction to upper elementary students with learning disabilities. The LLC, based on Desimone’s (2009) framework, included 2 days of initial PD with follow-up meetings, coaching, and video self-analysis. A comparison group received only 2 days of PD. Results of independent t tests and analyses of covariance indicated that LLC teachers demonstrated significant change in instructional time allotted to, and quality of, word study and fluency instruction. LLC teachers also made significantly greater gains on the fluency knowledge measure as compared with the comparison group, but they did not differ in word study knowledge. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that students of LLC teachers made significantly greater gains on word attack skills and decoding efficiency than did students of teachers in the comparison group.
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