The Nature of the People

Abstract

Since 1986, the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER) has attempted to persuade 41 institutions of higher education (IHEs) in partnership with schools to build collaborative networks among education faculty in colleges, schools, and departments of education (CSDEs) and to put into practice a new order of things leading to improvement in schooling and the renewal of teacher education. In an effort to describe the level of participation of special education in the commitment to the NNER agenda, we conducted a survey of the 28 NNER member IHEs who had departments or units of special education within their CSDEs. The chairs of departments of special education or their equivalent were asked to rate how well the NNER agenda and the new order of things was being accepted and carried out at their institution. IHEs were surveyed in four areas: the degree to which special education faculty are viewed as true (parity) partners within and across elementary and secondary education departments; the degree to which elementary, secondary, and special education faculty have been willing to surrender specific ownership of courses and content in order to create an interdisciplinary teacher training program; the willingness of elementary, secondary, and special education faculty to create a shared training program that provides all preservice teachers with learning opportunities in both general and special education settings; and the degree to which CSDE faculty across departments are training preservice teachers to use an array of educational services and accommodations for students with disabilities who are participating in the general education curriculum and settings.

New Teachers’ Perceptions on Being Prepared to Teach Students With Learning Disabilities: Insights From California

“…That is, perceiving edTPA as a useful assessment for learning to educate SWLDs is not dependent on perceptions of the general preparation program but instead is related to the messages and perceived utility of edTPA more generally. This finding is in line with the results of prior research on the successful implementation of performance assessments, which illustrates that this reform depended on agreement from faculty on the assessment’s purpose such that it aligned with program goals as well as their quality of support of preparing candidates for the assessment (Ledwell & Oyler, 2016; Ratner & Kolman, 2016; Smith & Edelen-Smith, 2002).…”

“…With rapid and radical changes in expectations for public schools in regard to educating students with disabilities, it is no surprise that many teacher education programs have lacked a coherent vision for how to best prepare teacher candidates for educating SWLDs. For example, Smith and Edelen-Smith (2002) surveyed 28 department chairs at universities with teacher education programs and found that there was an overall lack of agreement from faculty on the appropriate integration of expectations and competencies for teacher candidates in their programs. Based on these results, the authors speculated that these institutions would experience significant obstacles fostering collaboration between departments in schools of education to improve the training for candidates learning how to teach in inclusive classrooms.…”