Many special education teacher preparation programs emphasize equity and social justice when preparing future educators who are well equipped to address racial disparities in education. Black special education teacher educators have an impactful role to play in the visioning of racially equitable teacher preparation programs, despite often being…

In the 2010 issue of "Teacher Education and Special Education (TESE)," Sindelar and colleagues examined the current status of research on special education teachers and outlined future work necessary to improve the special education teacher workforce. In this article, the authors focus explicitly on Sindelar and colleagues' charge to…

Competencies needed by teachers who provide language and literacy instruction to English learners (ELs), including bilingual education, English as a second language, general education, and special education teachers, are outlined. The competencies suggest a shared knowledge base all teachers of ELs must have to provide linguistically and…

Initial licensure polices in special education were examined to determine how these policies support or hinder reform efforts to develop teacher education programs that prepare graduates for the increasingly complex needs of diverse students. Initial special education licensure policies are described with an emphasis on the differences across…

In this article, co-written by a teacher and a professor, the authors examine possible explanations for why Adam (first author), a New York City public school special educator, failed the edTPA, a teacher performance assessment required by all candidates for state certification. Adam completed a yearlong teaching residency where he was the special…

Teacher preparation has been under intense scrutiny in recent years. In order for preparation of special education teacher candidates to remain viable, candidate assessment practices must apply practices identified in the extant literature base, while special education teacher education researchers must extend this base with rigorous efforts to…

Effective classroom management skills are essential for teachers. Unfortunately, many teachers do not receive adequate classroom management training prior to beginning their teaching careers and feel unprepared for the demands of managing student behaviors in their classrooms. In this article, we describe (a) the number of states with state policy…

Through a mixed-methods study, teacher educators investigated recent graduates' perceptions of their preparation program. Beginning special education teachers completed surveys and indicated (a) their level of preparation and confidence associated with 25 core competencies, (b) the most beneficial components of their preparation program, (c)…

Efficient lesson planning with universal design for learning (UDL) enables teachers to more effectively meet students' individual needs. In this study, a comparison of lesson plans by teacher candidates in a teacher preparation program before and after UDL training is presented. After training, teachers (n = 45) incorporated more differentiated…

In this study, the authors examine whether an advanced online technology can be used to give teacher trainees real-time feedback on their use of research-based classroom practices. Participants include 15 teachers enrolled in a field-based graduate special education teacher preparation program. Data include video-recorded teacher observations and…

A process was developed to create Web-based video models of effective instructional practices for use in teacher education settings. Three video models, created at three university sites, demonstrated exemplary implementation of specific, evidence-based strategies in reading, math, and science. Video models of strategies were field tested with…

In this article, the authors describe a systematic effort by a department of special education to integrate technology into teaching through a one-to-one laptop initiative and to examine preservice teachers' perceptions concerning their experiences with the initiative. The authors investigate beliefs about preservice teachers' proficiency in using…

In this article, the authors examine the literature on distance education and offer a brief chronology of its past-to-present development, with special attention to the evolution of technology-mediated instruction. They document some of the major trends related to both theoretical and practical aspects of distance education. In particular, they…

To date, research has not sufficiently addressed the impact of personnel preparation programs on secondary special educators in relationship to specialized competencies needed to impact students during transition from school to adult life. This study sought to evaluate transition competencies gained by secondary practitioners involved in a…

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…