As one component of a program improvement grant provided by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEPs), the authors' teacher preparation program (TPP) underwent substantial program redesign. In this article, the authors provide a detailed overview of the process they undertook to revamp their program based on the fundamental question,…

Understanding the context of the demand for special education (SE) teacher education (TE) faculty is important because it can provide faculty at doctoral-granting universities with useful information for program planning. Knowing more about SE teacher preparation programs currently in place and program revisions being planned allows doctoral…

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…

With the proliferation of alternative route (AR) special education teacher preparation programs, many teacher educators are likely to be involved in AR program design and implementation. Unfortunately, few resources have focused on best practices for program developers to prepare the nontraditional participants who typically populate their…

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…

Distance education utilizing online courses has emerged as an area of program development for many teacher education programs. Online course learning management systems, such as Blackboard.com, have made putting a course online a relatively simple task; however, in many cases, the online course is little more than a correspondence course with a…

This article describes steps taken by the faculty in the Department of Special Education at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire to develop, implement, and make programmatic decisions based on the results of performance-based assessments. It illustrates these steps with the example of the educational goal of having students understand the…

This article describes development of an interdisciplinary personnel preparation program at Western Kentucky University to prepare students to work with children (birth through age 5) with disabilities and their families. The program includes the fields of special education, social work, school psychology, and communication disorders. The article…

This article presents guidelines for the development and implementation of a graduate program in bilingual multicultural special education using the program at New Mexico State University as a model. It identifies the competencies of bilingual multicultural special educators, identifies steps in creating a new program, offers a philosophical…

Describes a professional-development program to address the social needs of students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) in general-education classrooms. The program is based not only on current knowledge of students with AH/HD, but also on professional development needs of teachers. Program components are described. (Author/CR)

Describes a personnel-preparation program for unendorsed teachers of students with severe disabilities in Virginia. The program was designed to be inexpensive, to allow supervised application of content schools, and to meet state endorsement requirements for teaching those with severe disabilities. Evaluation results indicate participants were…

Describes a Kentucky program designed to train special-education personnel in moderate/severe-disabilities and early-childhood special education. The model used satellite, compressed video, and on-site delivery systems; support services from the university, state, and federal governments, and various methods of team teaching. Program effectiveness…

Responses of colleges of education to requirements for mainstreaming of P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) are similar to responses of public school systems. Possible reorganization approaches along functional lines are described for making teacher education as a whole more effective and flexible. (CL)

The need for personnel preparation planning in special education is emphasized, and guidelines for meeting and going beyond the personnel preparation requirements in P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, are suggested. (CL)

The steps in successful practicum site selection and assignment for prospective special education teachers are discussed. (CL)