Paraprofessionals are critical members of instructional teams for students with autism; however, little is known about their job preparation and professional development needs. This study addressed the gap in the literature by surveying 325 paraprofessionals in public school settings in the United States and Guam who reported working with students…

Educational developers tend to be located in centres and units of teaching and learning outside the academic mainstream. They have little opportunity to engage in scholarship. Through an overview of the literature on educational development and educational professional roles and responsibilities, the author suggests that promoting a culture of…

The purpose of this study was to examine education leaders' knowledge of core and current issues in special education and how this knowledge is acquired. The study also examined the educational leaders' beliefs and practices regarding collaboration, response-to-intervention, and inclusion. Finally, the study examined the social justice issues that…

Although data driven-decision making has been the mantra of school reform for the last 10 years, school leaders benefit from frequent discussions in how to engage teachers in the process. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to apply Reeves' (2004) framework concerning Antecedents of Excellence in creating a school culture that routinely uses…

Those who come in contact with students at the post-secondary level face a myriad of potential legal challenges in their interactions with students and others. All members of the academic community should be familiar with the more common legal issues and to plan accordingly to avoid future problems. This article explores FERPA in the classroom,…

This article focuses on the planning and organisation of teachers' continuous professional development as part of the nationally representative "Schools and Continuing Professional Development in England--State of the Nation" research study (SoNS), commissioned by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). Thematic analysis…

Improving the quality of Early Childhood Education has been a priority in Brazil, but it is still a challenging issue to be faced. The fact that an indefinite number of institutions exist on the borders of the educational system, the lack of systematic supervision, and incomplete official statistics are only a few of the challenges. The Millennium…

The article describes optimal roles and responsibilities for professionals and parents as states and localities develop preservice and inservice personnel preparation programs and local interagency task forces for transition services (including special education, vocational education, case management, parents, and transdiciplinary/interagency…

This article is based upon an analysis of a questionnaire sent to 431 education welfare officers throughout local education authorities in England and Wales and follow-up interviews with 59 (13.7%) of the respondents. The questionnaire focused upon profiling the initial induction and continuing professional development needs of the staff. The…

Six groups surveyed in Idaho (13 state department staff, 18 vocational teacher educators, 132 secondary principals, 42 deans, and 532 secondary and 204 postsecondary vocational teachers) perceived vocational teacher education (VTE) as having more responsibility for coordination and delivery than funding. Postsecondary respondents were the most…

The standards to which secondary vocational education is held accountable are not compatible with the broad program goals undertaken by vocational education. Vocational education should be assessed in light of its contributions to human development and its economic benefits. (CJ)

Two major issues in inservice teacher education are: (1) Who is responsible for teaching these professional education courses?; and (2) Are these courses worthy of graduate credit? College faculty members generally agree that institutions of higher learning are obligated to assist practitioners, but universities have been reluctant to offer…

This paper discusses what colleges and universities can do to improve the capacity of the public schools to deliver quality education in social studies and other areas to America's children. The quality of public education can be improved by changing the system for delivering education and by improving the quality of teaching. Colleges and…

This position paper of the American Federation of Teachers contends that the most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. The paper states that the type of literacy instruction that includes a range of research-based components and practices has not made its way into every classroom, and that, indeed, a chasm exists…

Accelerating the modernization of vocational education necessitates fixing the responsibility for vocational teacher professional development. The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to examine perceptions of the Ohio vocational education partners (547 teachers, 511 local administrators, 72 teacher educators, and 76 Division of…