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in teaching this population, resulting in decisions influenced by media, commercially available curricula, and outdated assumptions about…

Rokeach's Value Survey (1973) was used to assess possible differences in the life values of special education (N=133) and regular (N=128) classroom teachers . Generally, their value systems were not significantly different; however, 18 values (10 defining personal life goals and 8 defining self conduct and others' conduct) differentiated one group…

Examines six school-university partnerships developed between the special education department of the University of South Florida and surrounding school districts, and delineates key factors contributing to their progress. Challenges to partnerships are discussed, including the establishment of parity and the role of personal values in developing…

Twenty-eight regular and special education teachers surveyed indicated that they would like to teach more social skills but were constrained by limited resources and training. Teachers preferred proactive approaches over reactive responses and were about evenly split between wanting to conduct social skills instruction as a discrete content area…

This paper examines issues related to preparing teachers to instruct students with severe disabilities, focusing on the values that drive best practices, the content knowledge that should exist within teacher training programs, and processes that may impart and support the continued application of both values and knowledge. (Author/JDD)