This collection of 12 essays focuses on issues surrounding the assessment of competence in higher education, providing examples to illustrate the competence approach in practice in the United Kingdom. They include: (1) "The Assessment of Competence in Higher Education" (Anne Edwards and Peter Knight); (2) "National Vocational…

This paper discusses the need to rethink preservice and inservice training programs for general and special educators who teach culturally diverse students with learning disabilities. An overview identifies problems associated with traditional preservice and inservice training programs, such as Eurocentric teacher education programs and low…

The focus of this paper is to further understanding of the distribution and the effects of an expanded conception of opportunity to learn on student mathematics achievement. In addition to descriptive statistics, a set of two-level hierarchical linear models was employed to analyze a subset of the restricted-use National Education Longitudinal…

This study analyzed the impact of the Developmental Discipline Management System (DD) on teaching effectiveness and student achievement in special needs classrooms. DD was developed as a human centered, systems approach to education. Its core philosophy was to help each child achieve self mastery and mastery of subjects and to help teachers feel…

This report describes an alternative teacher certification program developed to address special education teacher shortages in rural West Virginia. For the past 9 years, one of every three educators in West Virginia assigned to special education has worked on some type of sub-standard license. The alternative certification program allows West…

This collection of papers identifies critical issues in mentoring and mentoring programs. Paper 1, "Support Behaviors Among Teachers in Authentic Settings" (Deborah L. Bainer), discusses the following issues: (1) mentoring is just one of the types of support behaviors needed and practiced by teachers in elementary schools; (2) support…

This report describes teacher education programs, courses, and school-based experiences being collaboratively planned and implemented in Texas. The programs represent efforts to eliminate dissonance between what preservice teachers are prepared to do and what they are expected to do as student and inservice teachers. The report describes…

This monograph describes a personnel preparation program that prepared 32 Colorado special education graduates to meet the needs of students who are learning English as a second language and are visually impaired. Graduates took a course that was specially designed to expose students to relevant literature on federal mandates for the education of…

This report is based on efforts by the National Center for Education Statistics to collect data on teacher preparation and qualifications using a nationally representative survey of full-time public school teachers whose main teaching assignment is in English/language arts, social studies/social sciences, foreign language, mathematics, or science…

This collection of 10 author-contributed papers addresses various aspects of programming for students with behavioral disorders. Papers have the following titles and authors: (1) "Teacher Ratings of School Survival Skills and Setting Demands" (Bill Bursuck et al.); (2) "Toward Least Restrictive Curriculum for Behaviorally Disordered Adolescents"…

This research brief summarizes a report by Christopher Jepsen and Steven Rivkin, "Class Size Reduction, Teacher Quality, and Academic Achievement in California Public Elementary Schools" (2002) [ED497298]. Intuitively, class size reduction is a good idea. Parents support it because it means that their children will receive more…

In this groundbreaking and forward-looking resource, the author clearly explains the impact of the "Every Child Matters" agenda for teachers working in a range of educational settings. Based on the latest national legislation and developments in education, the book provides an up-to-the-minute guide on how to respond to the exciting challenges and…

This publication presents several articles about the profession of teaching as well as recent conversations with experts in the field. The articles include: "Putting National Board Certification to the Test" (David T. Gordon); "Teacher Excellence: Improving the Conversation" (a conversation with Ann E. Harman); "What…

This report presents 10 suggestions for what the U.S. Department of Education can do to help schools raise achievement for all students and close the achievement gap by increasing teacher quality: (1) make improving teacher quality job one; (2) insist on good data; (3) ensure that states make an immediate priority of fixing the indefensible…

This report summarizes the data from the Study of Special Needs in Special Education (SPeNSE), a national study of personnel in special education. It focuses on data related to recruiting and retaining high-quality special education teachers. Findings indicate: (1) in 1999-2000, more than 12,000 openings for special education teachers were left…