ERIC Number: ED462819
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1998
Pages: 11
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Project BESTT: Bilingual/ESL Special Education Teacher Training.
Rodriguez, Richard F.
This final report describes the activities and outcomes of Project BESTT (Bilingual/ESL Special Education Teacher Training), a federally-funded program that provided training to 25 certified special education teachers selected from four rural school districts currently serving bilingual, minority group elementary children with disabilities. The immediate goal of the training program was to provide participating school districts with a quality trained cadre of bilingual special education personnel able to meet the unique cross-cultural and special education needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students in public school settings. The 25 participants included 7 Caucasians, 16 Hispanics, and 2 Native Americans. Two of the participants have an identified disability. The Project BESTT training curriculum involved the integration of bilingual, English as a Second Language (ESL), and special education course work into a 36 semester-hour, interdisciplinary, competency-based program of study leading to the Masters of Arts degree in Bilingual/Special Education. The program of study included a field experience. An evaluation of the training found that post-training scores of participants were higher on measures evaluating awareness of the educational needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students than teachers who had not participated. An appendix contains information on teacher competencies, course work, and training curriculum. (CR)
Descriptors: Bilingual Education Programs, Bilingual Students, Bilingual Teachers, Cultural Awareness, Cultural Differences, Disabilities, Diversity (Student), Elementary Education, Higher Education, Inservice Teacher Education, Language Minorities, Masters Degrees, Masters Programs, Minority Group Children, Minority Group Teachers, Rural Schools, Second Language Instruction, Second Language Programs, Special Education Teachers, Teacher Certification, Teacher Education Programs, Teachers with Disabilities
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Special Education Programs (ED/OSERS), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Western New Mexico Univ., Silver City.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A