Highly qualified and well-prepared transition professionals are arguably the most important piece to improve postsecondary outcomes for youth with diverse needs. A dearth of dynamic field placements for preservice teachers to connect coursework to practice has been identified as a gap in teacher training. This need could be potentially filled by…

Students with extensive support needs (ESN) benefit from inclusion in general education settings with their same-age peers. Many teachers, however, report feeling overwhelmed and underprepared to effectively educate students with ESN within general education settings. To mitigate this, we must ensure that content related to the instruction and…

Special education teachers for students with extensive support needs often and unwittingly make misinformed decisions. These decisions are situated within systems, which fail to support expertise development in teaching this population, resulting in decisions influenced by media, commercially available curricula, and outdated assumptions about…

Special education teachers play an integral role in preparing students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) for a successful transition to their desired postsecondary pathways. As more opportunities arise for students with IDD to attend inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) programs, there is a growing need for special…

Educators often feel ill-equipped to support autistic students in general education contexts, although research shows that inclusion in these settings can contribute to positive outcomes. Professional development (PD) in evidence-based practices (EBPs) for autistic students can address this need; however, it is essential to understand the…

The movement toward collaborative models of preservice early childhood preparation, those that attempt to "blend" preparation for both early childhood education (ECE) and early intervention/early childhood special education (EI/ECSE), is entering its fourth decade. This position paper presents a historical analysis of the blended…

The intersectionally conscious collaboration protocol for teacher educators (ICC-TE) expands on existing models of collaboration by drawing from intersectionality as conceptualized by Black feminist theorists, collaborative teacher education, and frameworks for stakeholders to establish and maintain ethical, student-centered relationships. The…

Teachers can and should play a powerful active role in promoting societal inclusion and equity for all learners. There is an emerging interest among teacher education scholars in teacher agency and its importance; however, a theoretical and empirical understanding of teacher agency remains elusive. The purposes of this systematic review are to…

Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), as a fully integrated set of practices and interventions directed to academics and behavior, with emerging applications to social and emotional learning in the teaching/learning process, is very much in its ascendency in schools across the United States and elsewhere. As a result, there is an emerging need to…

Teacher preparation for inclusive education of students with significant disabilities requires an understanding of the requisite skills and dispositions to be taught during the teacher preparation period. Given the relative scarcity of inclusive placements for this population, as well as limited research-based teacher preparation practices to…

The present qualitative interview study explored disability identity development, a unique aspect of identity, and its relationship to school and special education. Adults with disabilities (n = 9) reflected on their schooling experiences in special education through a life history interview and semi-structured interview about their schooling…

Classroom Pivotal Response Teaching (CPRT) is a naturalistic behavioral intervention for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that was systematically adapted for teacher use. In this study, the authors evaluate outcomes of a large randomized trial training teachers (n = 126) to use CPRT. Training involved 12 hours of small group sessions…

Our intergenerational authorial team takes up a central--and unresolved--issue within teacher education for inclusion, namely, the role of curriculum in reconceptualizing pre-service programs. We specifically review literature and policy on how special education teacher educators have approached conceptions of curriculum, using this past as…

Teachers' self-efficacy and beliefs are important to classroom practices and student success. In this study, the authors examine preservice teachers' self-efficacy and beliefs related to inclusive education. One hundred seventy-nine preservice teachers enrolled in secondary or elementary education programs participated in this study. Overall,…

Most students with autism engage in the general education (GE) setting for a majority of the school day. Though there are standards to identify the expectations for educating students with autism in the inclusive classroom, GE teachers and paraeducators report limited knowledge and self-efficacy in supporting students with autism, and both…