Field experiences are often considered by researchers, leading organizations, and accrediting bodies as a critical component of special education teacher preparation. Yet, much remains unknown about the types or numbers of field experiences that will best prepare special education teacher candidates. Given the ongoing changes in the field of…

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in teaching this population, resulting in decisions influenced by media, commercially available curricula, and outdated assumptions about…

Research demonstrates a clear link between implementing proactive classroom management practices and positive student outcomes. Thus, it is important to examine how teachers are prepared to enact such practices. In this qualitative study, the authors draw on interviews with 35 special education faculty members at 32 institutions of higher…

Schools rely heavily on paraeducators to support the delivery of special education services for students with disabilities (SWDs). However, paraeducators often lack formal training in implementing evidence-based practices. Traditional methods of professional development are not effective at producing long-term changes in classroom staff. Prior…

Posing questions is a direct way for teachers to push students to verbalize justifications and make connections among ideas--a crucial component of giving students with learning disabilities access to high levels of mathematical reasoning--but this skill is difficult to learn. We recruited four pre-service special education teachers to provide 1-1…

Paraprofessionals are often tasked with providing instruction to students with severe disabilities despite little or no training in evidence-based practices. Previous studies have demonstrated that specific strategies (i.e., didactic instruction, modeling, and immediate performance feedback) in a 1-to-1 format can enable paraprofessionals to…

In this investigation, we surveyed 51 faculty members who were involved in teacher preparation programs in the area of extensive support needs (ESN) across a range of institutions of higher education. We asked participants to respond to questions related to the quality and quantity of program content focused on communication instruction and…

As paraprofessionals gain more instructional responsibilities for individual students, feasible training strategies must be established to promote effective delivery of instruction. This train-the-trainer study was designed to teach paraprofessionals how to implement an evidence-based instructional practice under the direction of the classroom…

Making data-based decisions is a pervasive expectation for educators and is linked to improved outcomes for students. Observational data collection for progress monitoring, in particular, can help educators track and support students' progress toward individualized educational goals in inclusive settings. Yet, many educators struggle with data…

Given the importance of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for improving outcomes for students with disabilities, it is key that preservice special education teachers have the opportunity to implement EBPs with high levels of fidelity during their teacher preparation program. For this reason, the authors conducted a systematic review of the…

In this article, we present findings that examined special education teachers' perception of students' with disabilities ability, instructional needs, and difficulties for using visual representations (VRs) as a strategy to solve mathematics problems. In addition, whether these perceptions differed by instructional grade or setting currently…

In this study, the authors present findings from a survey of 577 secondary special educators in a large Midwestern state regarding their reading pre-service and in-service teacher preparation and its effect on teachers' sense of preparedness for teaching reading to adolescents with disabilities. Six models were fitted using multinomial logistic…

Teachers make numerous decisions each day, yet processes undergirding these decisions are elusive and have not been the subject of many in-depth investigations within special education. The purpose of this qualitative investigation, therefore, was to complete a micro-level analysis of the influence of curriculum on 11 middle school teachers'…

Educator preparation in comprehension strategy instruction (CSI) is essential to meeting the needs of English learners (ELs) in contemporary schools. This article provides teacher educators and professional developers with concrete examples of practices to prepare classroom teachers in comprehensive strategy instruction, based on an experimental…

Special educators assume an essential leadership role in school-wide multilayered instructional systems for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners with and without disabilities, including learners at risk of being inappropriately referred for special education. Research findings from a model demonstration project are presented…