Parents have advocated for the educational rights of their children with disabilities for decades, and more so since the reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Advocating for one's child while working as an employee in the same school district where your child receives special education services comes with…

In recent years, there has been an increase in paraeducator supports, in large part because students with low incidence disabilities are being included more frequently in general education settings. As a result, special education teachers have been given additional supervisory responsibilities related to directing the work of paraeducators in…

In this article, the author details the findings of a study of completers during their last semester of a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program in special education. The purpose of this multiple-case study was to understand how the extent to which the program was implemented, the participants' background and career trajectories, and the…

The shortage of special education teachers has prompted the creation of alternative certification programs. The effectiveness of the University of Memphis's (U of M's) 14-year-old alternative Special Education Institute program in preparing teachers to teach and remain in the field was examined. The program was compared to the U of M's traditional…

In this study, the authors investigate the perceptions of general educators, special educators, and school counselors on the topic of overrepresentation of minorities (specifically, African American) in special education programs. The study took place in a rural school district in south central Alabama, where overrepresentation of African American…

A mixed methodology approach was used to study the relationship between general and special educators who were co-teaching. On two co-teacher assessment instruments, sums of ratings from special educators and general elementary and secondary educators in an urban multicultural school district in the southeastern USA were similar to those obtained…

Field-testing in five Vermont school districts demonstrated the effectiveness of a model to support local school personnel in forming effective collaborative teams and acquiring the necessary competencies to educate severely-disabled learners. The model featured inservice training, modeling, coaching, and feedback. (Author/CB)

The liason model focuses on cooperative inservice planning and implementation among three agencies: local education agencies (LEAs), instructional resource centers, and institutions of higher education. Inservices are planned on three levels--(1) building-based, (2) LEA-based, and (3) broad-based. (CL)

Responses of 259 school districts to a questionnaire about special education substitute teachers indicated that regional differences affected policies regarding degree and certification, consideration for full-time employment, and pay; while evaluation, training, selection, removal, and fringe benefit practices were consistent across the nation.…

This study of special education faculty needs at institutions of higher education for the periods 1984-88 and 1989-94 found that many positions were filled by individuals already in higher education or previously employed in state or local education agencies. Results suggest that a substantial number of future applicants may also come from these…

The national landscape of education and professional development is changing. Instructional personnel of students with severe disabilities are frequently untrained, professionally isolated, and in need of current knowledge and best practice in programming for these students. This article describes the need for a shift from a reliance on the…