This article provides an analysis of how collaborative teacher education has developed in terms of practice, discourse, and the relationship between general and special education across three historical stages. It explores how collaborative teacher education between general and special education has been positioned over time in relationship to…

The alignment of the teacher quality provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the transparency of low achievement of students who have disabilities under the testing mandates of NCLB have converged to create substantial renewed interest and activity in collaborative programs…

In this study, the authors focus on one highly contested provision of the No Child Left Behind Act, which allows states flexibility in how the quality of teachers is defined and evaluated: the high, objective, uniform state standard of evaluation (HOUSSE) option. They conducted a national survey of representatives from each state to explore how…

This article introduces two articles that address the history and funding of personnel preparation for special education in general and the specific history of federal funding for general education teachers to work well with students with disabilities. It urges the incorporation of accountability in teacher education programs to justify funding.…

This article poses three scenarios for national personnel preparation initiatives that would parallel the structure of the former Deans' Grants: a national initiative on the intersection of disability and diversity, a national initiative on school-university partnerships and disability, and a national initiative on service learning and disability.…

This article introduces following articles that address the concept of "communities of practice" as a particular theoretical approach to the professional development of teachers. Using this concept, articles describe programs focused on the assessment of literacy instruction, building inclusive educational environments, and vocabulary learning in…

This commentary discusses three previous articles that address the concept of "communities of practice" as a particular theoretical approach to the professional development of teachers. The need to establish a learning community across levels of expertise rather than within them is emphasized. (CR)

Examines the complex relationship between the concept of diversity, and the concept of disability and argues for an overriding sociocultural framework for special education as a responsible way to link these concepts in practice. (Author)

Reflects on previous articles in the same journal that address the preparation of special education teachers. Discusses the benefits of the special education field looking outward at the larger system in which special education operates and then critically inward at the role of special education teachers. (CR)

Describes a new feature in "Teacher Education and Special Education" that will focus on contemporary research, policy, and practice in teacher education, which is designed to encourage a high level of discourse about pressing teacher education issues that affect the preparation of special- and general-education teachers. (CR)

Presents a rationale for interdisciplinary instruction in collaboration at the preservice level and a series of validated instructional and evaluation activities designed to teach collaborative skills systematically throughout preservice programs in the school-based professions. Instructional activities are listed from introductory to advanced…

Action research, in which classroom teachers engage in systematic inquiry to develop new alternatives for approaching problematic classroom situations, is presented as a dimension of collaboration that has the potential to reduce teachers' resistance to changes in teaching practice as they work to accommodate diverse classroom populations.…

This review examines studies on the workplace socialization of classroom teachers according to functionalist and interpretive perspectives, analyzes literature on school contexts that support socialization to career-long professional growth and inquiry, and considers the research implications for studying the socialization of special education…