Teachers of students with moderate and severe disabilities must possess the skills and knowledge to address a unique set of needs and challenges. These may include, but are not limited to, management of challenging behaviors, performance of health-related procedures, use of assistive technology, and instruction using evidence-based strategies.…

The purpose of this study was to describe the use of service-learning (SL) by special education faculty at 4-year colleges and universities across the United States, and to determine faculty attitudes and beliefs about the application of SL in special education. Participants included faculty with experience in SL teaching and/or research in…

This manuscript seeks to share the continuous improvement endeavors by the College of Education faculty and administration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte from initial preparation and planning through their successful national and state accreditation achieved in November 2005. Beginning with the unit's revision of their conceptual…

Service-learning continues to be utilized in teacher education programs. A salient feature of this form of pedagogy is the use of reflection. Many instructors and students struggle with the reflection process. Particularly, instructors are challenged to assess students' reflection entries. This article describes a guided reflection rubric that was…

Within recent years, federal legislation has required schools to develop and implement standards-based accountability systems for the purposes of evaluating their performance. Although the implementation of accountability systems for K-12 programs is well underway, the design and implementation of such systems for Part C and Section 619 programs…

The participation in and completion of teacher education programs by students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds is one of the biggest challenges facing higher education institutions today. The success of teacher education programs in responding to this challenge is related to their ability to incorporate diversity into all…

Many universities are grappling with the issue of diversifying the faculty lines in higher education. While this appears to be a global issue across disciplines, those of us who are in special education may find it to be of greater concern because special education legislation, the Individuals with disabilities Act (IDEA) strongly supports…

Information from 121 chairs of 1997-98 special educational search committees was collected. The majority of positions were at the rank of Assistant Professor and were left vacant due to faculty mobility. Seventy-three percent of searches ended successfully; 76% of those hired were women; and 20% were culturally or linguistically diverse. (Contains…

After a systematic national search, 86 special education doctoral programs were found to be active in 1999. Program administrators were surveyed and results indicate most special education doctoral programs are under enrolled, doctoral students' enrollment has declined 30% over the last 20 years, and programs are not highly selective. (Contains…

A survey of individuals who earned their doctorates between 1994-1998 (n=872) found only 36% of recipients were employed full-time in tenure-line positions. Factors influencing career choices included age at beginning doctoral study; career aspirations of beginning doctoral students; institutional financial support; and the ability to relocate…

A survey of 1,267 doctoral students found their primary consideration in selecting a doctoral program was not having to relocate. Students were fairly satisfied with the training they received in research skills, less so in areas of college teaching, administration/supervision, and diversity. Less than half were interested in faculty positions.…

This article reviews the history of national policy for personnel preparation under Part D of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and offers some recommendations for federal policy that may increase special education faculty. It concludes that higher education must develop new ways of communicating its importance to policy makers.…

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 provides an historical analysis of federal support for personnel preparation in special education. The evolution of the program is traced in terms of its continued emphasis on increasing and improving the quality of special education personnel as well as building capacity for preparation of future personnel. (Contains references.)…

This article describes federal initiatives to support preparation of regular educators to serve students with disabilities through the eras of mainstreaming, the Regular Education Initiative, inclusion, and promoting access to the general education curriculum. Trends in the number of personnel preparation projects that support preparation of…