The goal of Special Education is to help individuals with disabilities transition to meaningful adult roles. When students with disabilities pursue education majors, Special Education Faculty must balance their desire to support college students with disabilities, while maintaining the rigor of their academic programs. To gain a better…

The vast majority of special education teacher preparation programs in the United States incorporate the IRIS Center's "STAR Legacy" modules into their coursework. Given the diversity of module content and ways in which the modules are employed, the purpose of this study was to explore the potential mediating effects of instructional…

In this article, the effectiveness of pre-service training that focuses on collaborative consultation and positive behavior support for treatment of challenging behaviors is evaluated. The effectiveness of an 8-month training program is evaluated for three participant groups: (a) 16 advanced undergraduate and master's-level students who received…

To adequately prepare preservice teachers to implement inclusive classrooms, teacher preparation programs must encourage professional interaction, collaboration, and knowledge about inclusion. Although some of these skills can be presented in coursework, prospective teachers must be provided with opportunities to practice these skills in classroom…

The number of teacher candidates with learning disabilities (LD) has grown over the past several years. Teacher education programs are accountable to produce quality teachers while providing reasonable accommodations that facilitate completion of a degree program. This study investigated accommodations provided to teacher candidates with LD in…

In Singapore, special education has traditionally been perceived as distinct from general education. Students with learning and behavioral difficulties in general education classrooms are often neglected. Typically, this is due to the fact that many general education teachers lack the competencies required to work with students with diverse…

When discussions of at-risk students arise, Asian-American students are rarely mentioned. The stereotype of the model minority hurts at-risk Asian-American students. While their successful counterparts dominate honor rolls, at-risk Asian-American students are often overlooked and underserved. This paper discusses at-risk Asian-American students…

A summer teacher education program at the University of North Carolina (Charlotte) focused on the effective instructional accommodation of mainstreamed students with mild disabilities. The program provided the regular education student teachers with an overview of special education, then observational experiences, and finally typical student…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 904) raise the achievement expectations of all students, including students with disabilities. These requirements place new responsibilities on institutions of higher education and state educational agencies…

The technology to produce high quality, digital videos is widely available, yet its use in teacher preparation remains largely overlooked. A digital video library was created to augment instruction in a special education methods course for preservice elementary education teachers. The videos illustrated effective strategies for working with…

This article examines factors affecting the participation and achievement of students with disabilities in teacher education programs. It considers federal legislation affecting their involvement in such programs, their admission, performance of essential teaching functions, accommodation provision and accessibility, basic skills competency…

More than five million IEP conferences are conducted each year. Despite the number of meetings, many IEPs are not educationally useful or legally correct. A common concern for principals and special education directors hiring new special education teachers is their lack of information concerning IEP development and experience establishing parent…

Seeking to strengthen preparation of preservice general educators for the realities of inclusive school settings, two special education teacher educators from different universities used content-based structured reflective log writing as an integral course requirement. Faced with teaching intensive course content within a limited time frame, the…

Assistive Technology (AT) devices and services have been legally mandated for several years. However, the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Act Amendments P.L. 105-17 (IDEA1997), which states that every student with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) must be considered for AT, had enormous implications impacting approximately six…

To address calls for restructuring and reform in the mid 1980's, educators proposed joining schools and universities in collaborative partnerships to improve education. Little attention has been given in the educational reform literature, however, to the field of teacher education for teachers of students with blindness or low vision. Reform…