Surveys of elementary and secondary educators identified competencies needed by teachers and administrators working in inclusive settings. The most important competency for both groups was collaboration. Notable teacher competencies were flexibility, classroom practices, and student knowledge. Significant administrator competencies included staff…

A study involving 127 undergraduates investigated the effectiveness of an innovative preservice training program designed to teach general education teachers how to use applied behavioral analysis to become reflective, responsive, educators. Participants in the field-based Instructional Assistants Program provided direct instruction and most felt…

After interviews with seven English special needs assistants found that they lacked clear ideas about expectations and reported poor classroom communication, the assistants were attached to one subject area rather than to specific pupils. Results found the assistants all felt happier in their work and accepted as members of the team. (Author/CR)

Examines issues related to secondary teacher preparation, including: advantages of a discipline-specific, interdisciplinary field-based block of courses; whether field basing should occur earlier or later in the program; how universities can address preservice teachers' varying needs; how university and school faculty can best collaborate; and how…

When they are well-devised and implemented, academic standards, tests, and associated accountability provisions can change the nature of teaching and learning. They can lead to a richer, more challenging curriculum, foster teacher collaboration, create a more productive teacher/parent dialogue, and focus attention on student achievement. (MLH)

The goal of school/university partnerships is the simultaneous renewal of colleges of education and of K-12 schools. In theory, this improvement comes about as university and K-12 faculty members work together to mentor preservice teachers in the best possible environment. Ideally, as they participate in these collaborations, the faculty groups do…

Many school systems are moving toward an inclusion model for teaching special learners in which all students are included in general classrooms. The basic premise is that all students should first be placed in the general classroom. Students receive as many necessary supplementary aids and services as possible in the general classroom, and then,…

Collaboration as a cornerstone of effective school inclusion is an idea that has high theoretical currency among many scholars in the areas of special education and educational leadership. The challenge for educational practitioners is to find ways to implement high-quality special education programs collaboratively amid the public call for school…

This article describes a collaborative professional development model in which faculty in a College of Education partnered with a local school district to design and implement a year-long project in an effort to increase effective integration of technology in instruction by K-8 classroom teachers, university teacher preparation faculty,…

This article discusses the potentially important implications of neuroscience or brain research, the newest "breakthrough" in education, for educators and the importance of sorting out claims on brain-based programs. It is obvious that brain research is not the elusive silver bullet that will answer all education problems. However, the new…

Teacher collaboration and support given from one teacher to another, focused on improving teaching and learning in the classroom, are notable by their absence in secondary schools in Bangladesh. This article identifies a number of constraints to developing a collaborative culture including the difficulty of the curriculum, the perceived low…

Organizational competence is what makes schools smarter, and such competence is typically found to reside in the relationships, norms, memories, habits, and collective skills of a network of people. Simply put, organizational competence is the sum of everything that everybody knows and uses that leads to increased learning. In an organizationally…

Teachers, administrators and policy makers at all levels of public education remain challenged to devise more effective ways to optimize teacher performance and, thereby, student achievement. Numerous professional organizations and teacher training agencies have long been advocates of high levels of teacher interaction and have formally adopted…

This article explores the potential of a partnership between general teachers and special educators in relation to developing exemplary literacy classrooms. The focus is on how these partners can collaborate effectively to create a classroom literacy program for all learners. Successful teaming practices are highlighted, including the development…

The purpose of this study was to understand and report how exemplary dyads describe their practice of collaborative consultation in inclusive classrooms. A dyad was made up of one resource teacher and one classroom teacher. This study discovered, through semi-structured interviews, how these educators collaborated and consulted as a team to meet…