Evaluating the Impact of a Secondary Transitional Teacher Preparation Program

Abstract

Special education personnel preparation programs are increasingly placing more emphasis on providing preservice and inservice teachers with competencies needed to help students make successful life transitions. The development, implementation, and evaluation of effective teacher training programs is vital to accomplish effective transition. This research describes a program aimed at increasing teacher competency in secondary transitional programming. Descriptive data including interviews, observation, document analysis, and survey methods were used to provide a view of teachers' efforts to implement the curriculum over a 3-year period. Analysis of the data provided detailed information about the extent of program implementation and 6 factors affecting teachers' local efforts. Most teachers reported change in knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and motivational levels; however, implementation was in an initial or trial stage. Effective teacher training programs must include not only technical knowledge, but also practical skills to help classroom teachers face the challenge of day-to-day realities of schooling.

Preservice and Inservice Professional Development for School to Adult Life Transition

“…University programs are infusing transition competencies in existing courses as well as promoting cross-training by having students in one discipline take courses in a complementary and related discipline. Some programs allow students to develop an area of emphasis in transition, while others have developed a series of modules within university graduate courses containing field-based activities and systematically planned practicum experiences based on role specific identified needs (Cobb, Hasazi, Collins, & Salembier, 1988;Lagone, Lagone & McLaughlin, 1991;Renzaglia, 1986).…”

Critical Features of Special Education Teacher Preparation

“…Practicum requirements were fulfilled in their classrooms under the supervision of selected master teachers. In addition to describing extensive field experiences, faculty mentioned careful supervision as an important feature of their programs (Burnstein & Sears, 1998;Ludlow, 1994;Langone, Langone, & McLaughlin, 1991;Rosenberg & Rock, 1994). In their description of two alternative preparation programs in special education, Otis-Wilburn and Winn (2000) noted that teams of four faculty continuously incorporate input from cooperating teachers, school principals, and their own direct assessments of student performance to determine if students have met expected standards of performance.…”

“…The programs in the AACTE and IRA studies adopted constructivist orientations to learning, although special education programs represented a continuum from positivist to constructivist. Some special education programs did not provide sufficient description to determine an orientation (Ashcroft, 1990;Clarken & LeRoy, 1998;Easterbrooksand practicing in the classroom (e.g., Grisham-Brown, et al, 2000;King-Sears, et al, 1992;Langone, et al, 1991;Rosenberg & Rock, 1994).…”

Transition Trends Associated with Topic Focus Since 1990: A Literature Review

“…As transition transcends K–12 special education, several relevant articles may have been excluded because they were published in journals that focused on other related disciplines (e.g., Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation ) and could have bolstered the areas with low representation such as interagency collaboration (e.g., Oertle & Trach, 2007; Povenmire-Kirk et al, 2015). Similarly, articles from other special education journals not included in the 2012 Journal Citation Report (Thomson Reuters, 2013), such as Teacher Education and Special Education , could have provided a more comprehensive picture related to teacher education and training of transition specialists (e.g., Kohler & Greene, 2004; Langone, Langone, & McLaughlin, 1991; Morningstar, Kim, & Clark, 2008).…”