Policy and program decisions involve choices among different ways of preparing teachers. These choices are shrouded in increasingly contentious debates as teacher shortages reach crisis proportions. Yet, research on special education teacher education is almost nonexistent. Findings from comparative research documenting the characteristics of effective teacher education programs can inform these choices, but these findings should be grounded in what we know from previous research in general teacher education. To assist educators, we have analyzed literature in general and special teacher education toward two ends. First, we present a framework, derived from work in general education, for analyzing teacher education programs. Second, we use this framework to analyze practice in teacher education in special education. Specifically, we conducted an exhaustive review of special education program descriptions and evaluations. We conclude by describing steps necessary to improve the special education teacher ed...

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Critical Features of Special Education Teacher Preparation: A Comparison With General Teacher Education

The inclusive attitudes of 181 undergraduate preservice general educators were measured using modified versions of the Opinions Relative to Integration of Students with Disabilities scale. A series...

Inclusive Attitudes, Strengths, and Weaknesses of Pre-service General Educators Enrolled in a Curriculum Infusion Teacher Preparation Program

Previous investigations suggest that in addition to positive attitudes toward inclusion, high-level beliefs about knowledge and learning (i.e., epistemological beliefs) are essential for all teachers of students with disabilities in inclusive settings. This study examined the attitudes toward inclusion and epistemological belief status of 71 pre-service general and special educators, along with the relationship between these variables. Participants, who completed written measures of these variables along with a demographic questionnaire, exhibited relatively positive attitudes toward inclusion and high-level epistemological beliefs. Also, those with higher-level epistemological beliefs were significantly more likely to hold more positive attitudes toward inclusion. Implications of findings for teacher education and further inquiry are discussed.

Epistemological Beliefs and Attitudes Toward Inclusion in Pre-service Teachers:

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) made significant changes in the roles of general and special educators, especially related to inclusion and collaboration. This pilot study examined the perceptions of beginning elementary and secondary school special and general education teachers in a midwestern state in the United States regarding their preparation for and the importance of their new roles, as well as their current training needs and plans to remain in teaching. The authors provide results from forced-choice and openended survey questions along with implications and suggestions for future research, especially in the areas of school culture, 1st-year mentoring, and preservice preparation.

Beginning Teachers' Views of Their Collaborative Roles

Promoting self-determination has become “best practice” in the education of students with disabilities. We synthesize the decade's work in this area as a foundation for considering issues pertaining to promoting self-determination in light of the current educational context. We particularly examine the role of promoting self-determination in light of federal standards-based reform initiatives. We conclude that school reform efforts provide an opportunity to infuse instruction in self-determination into the education programs of all students, including students with disabilities. Many state and local standards include a focus on component elements of self-determined behavior and promoting self-determination enables students to perform more effectively within other content domains. The importance of personnel preparation to enable teachers to promote self-determination is discussed.

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Self-Determination and Student Involvement in Standards-Based Reform

Current efforts to reform special education are contingent upon preparing general education teachers at the preservice level for inclusive classroom settings. In this article, we describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of innovative preservice teacher education program in elementary education in the Inclusive Early Childhood Education Unit at The University of Tennessee. This program possesses several distinctive features: a three-phase training model; alternative approaches to instructional delivery, curricula, and assessment; local school mentoring; and extensive field-based experiences. Program outcomes from mentoring teachers, school administrators, and students were collected to assess the impact of the program.

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Preparing General Education Teachers for Inclusive Settings: A Constructivist Teacher Education Program:

Benner, George, and Cagle present the concept of teacher education admission boards, particularly as defined by and established at the University of Ten nessee. The boards, comprised of prac titioners in the field, content area special ists, advanced students, and program area faculty interview students, review data available on the students and make final admission decisions. Further, once a student is admitted, he or she is as signed to a mentoring team that pro vides ongoing evaluation throughout the program. While the subjectivity and deficiencies of the board process are ob vious, the concept of admission boards is offered to the profession as an alterna tive to relying on quantitative measures alone.

Admission Boards: The Contribution of Professional Judgment to the Admission Process

In the United States, we have an ongoing struggle to attract students to advanced study and careers in mathematics. In the most recent international comparisons, 15-year-olds in the U.S. fell behin...

From the Editors: Math Achievement and Early Childhood Teacher Preparation

Mentoring as an approach to undergraduate teacher education has been implemented at the University of Tennessee. Mentoring teams have been created based on both the mentor-professor concept (Prehm & Isaacson, 1985) and the peer coaching team concept (Joyce & Showers, 1983). The general rationale for team organization and function was derived from faculty concern over sporadic, fragmented advising and incomplete knowledge of candidate competency. The objectives, mechanics, and anticipated benefits of the approach are described.

The Mentoring Team Approach: A New Concept in Undergraduate Teacher Education

Techniques were identified that staff of agencies serving adults or adolescents with mental retardation perceived would enable them to provide systematic sex education and counseling. Through the use of a structured interview process, we obtained opinions of professionals from 16 agencies. On the basis of these interviews and a thorough review of related literature, we made recommendations aimed at increasing professionals' ability to provide systematic sex education and counseling for individuals with mental retardation. Suggestions for further study were presented.

Susan M. Benner

Papers

Preparing General Education Teachers for Inclusive Settings: A Constructivist Teacher Education Program:

Admission Boards: The Contribution of Professional Judgment to the Admission Process

From the Editors: Math Achievement and Early Childhood Teacher Preparation

The Mentoring Team Approach: A New Concept in Undergraduate Teacher Education

Reducing barriers to sex education for adults with mental retardation