Special Education Teacher Education Research: Current Status and Future Directions

Abstract

In this article, the authors propose an agenda for special education teacher education researchers, with particular attention to policy work and studies of innovations in pre-service preparation, induction and mentoring, and professional development. Because previous research is limited and unfocused, the foundation for future research is weak, but opportunities to study questions of importance and interest are seemingly limitless. The authors discuss strategies to bolster the research foundation, namely, by oversampling special education teachers in the Schools and Staffing Survey and the Teacher Follow-Up Survey and by fostering the development of models of teacher development and related measures of teacher quality.

Evidence-Based Practices in The Public School: The Role of Preservice Teacher Training

“…Because students with ASD are a heterogeneous group, and have unique educational needs, this will be a more challenging task for teacher education preparation programs (McGee & Morrier, 2005;Simpson & Myles, 1998). Although potentially difficult, providing training in this specific set of skills is imperative because the classroom is where students with ASD receive most of their treatment (Sindelar, Brownell, & Billingsley, 2010). In order for the treatment to be operative, teachers need to be able to implement the most effective interventions.…”

How Pedagogy 2.0 Can Foster Teacher Preparation and Community Building in Special Education

“…Moreover, many schools employ only a few special education teachers at best and sometimes just one or two, which means it may be necessary to build multiple partner-ships at widely scattered schools to satisfy students' field experience needs (e.g., Epanchin & Colucci, 2002;Jenkins, Pateman, & Black, 2002). This solution, however, is impractical in terms of time, travel, and institutional resources available for partnership building in the field (Conderman, Morin, & Stephens, 2005) but may also explain why many special education personnel preparation programs are disconnected from the realities of schooling, lack an organized approach toward linking pedagogy with practice, and have produced little research on the benefits of field experiences and induction support (Billingsley, 2004;Boyer, 2005;Jones, 2009;Sindelar, Brownell, & Billingsley, 2010). This paper reports the results of an action research project conducted to explore the feasibility of using Web 2.0 technology to design a virtual PLC to support the practice of special education and facilitate collaboration among teacher educators and aspiring, novice, and veteran special educators.…”

“…They must also claim active membership in not one but two PLCs, one with their school-based general education colleagues and another with their discipline-based special education colleagues (Leko & Brownell, 2009;McKenzi, 2009). Yet, the art of collaboration is difficult if not impossible to master in isolation or without access to quality professional development that is specifically designed to meet the needs of a student-centered practice (Billingsley, 2004;NCATE, 2008;Sindelar et al, 2010).…”

“…Solutions may lie in easy to use and readily available Web 2.0 technology, a category of Internet tools that are particularly well suited for the purpose of community building (Hardman, 2012(Hardman, , 2014Sindelar et al, 2010). Web 2.0 refers to the second generation of the Internet that differs from the original concept of the Internet as a one-way delivery of information by allowing users to move beyond passively absorbing whatever is posted on the Internet to actively participating in the creation of Web content (Schrum & Levin, 2009).…”

Pre-service Teachers Identify Connections between Teaching-learning and Literacy Strategies

“…The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of procedures and outcomes of the "learning-to-teach" behaviors of Pre-Service Teachers in the specific context of delivering scripted reading lessons and essential literacy strategies to students who struggle with reading. While most of the special education research focuses on efficacy of interventions, the content of effective professional development for pre-service special education teachers falls significantly behind the demand for teaching all students with rigor and transparency (Lang & Fox, 2004;Leko & Borwnell, 2009;McLeskey & Ross, 2004;Sindelar et al, 2010).…”