The Status of Research on Multicultural Education in Teacher Education and Special Education Problems, Pitfalls, and Promises

1998 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwendolyn Webb-Johnson ◽  
Alfredo J. Artiles ◽  
Stanley C. Trent ◽  
Carolyn W. Jackson ◽  
Andrea Velox
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
The Status

Significant numbers of culturally diverse children and youth now experience school failure in schools across the United States. To counter this unfortunate and inequitable circumstance, many teacher educators and policymakers now advocate for multicultural curricula in teacher education and special education programs. Although the research on multicultural education has been examined thoroughly, there has been no systematic analysis of the multicultural teacher education empirical literature in special education. Hence, the purpose of this manuscript is to present findings from a comprehensive analysis of this literature. We first summarize the existing research in teacher education. Next, we examine extensively the existing literature on multiculturalism in special education teacher preparation programs. We end our review with identification of strengths and weaknesses of existing research and provide recommendations for future inquiries.

Developing Critical Dispositions in Teacher Education Programs

2019 ◽  
pp. 106-124
Author(s):  
Jarrett D. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
American Education ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Purpose Of Education

This chapter advocates for the (re)framing of critical thinking from a skill to a disposition and proposes a framework whereby teacher education programs can create space for pre-service teachers to develop a critical disposition. By studying the context of American education and schooling and their corporate interest, pre-service teachers along with teacher educators can start to unravel the discourse and power inherent in American education. Understanding how these concepts lead to hegemony can begin the process of creating a counterhegemonic movement among American educators that includes the reclaiming of the purpose of education, raising pertinent epistemological question, and practicing critical self-reflection. The final part of the new framework for developing critical dispositions is a reintroduction of broader theoretical concerns into teacher preparation programs.

Teacher Competencies for Transition Programs as Reported by State Directors of Special Education.

1994 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 10-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay S. Bull ◽  
Diane Montgomery ◽  
John Beard
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Transition Programs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Educational Training ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Directors Of Special Education ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
State Directors

The Transition Special Interest Group (SIG) of the American Council on Rural Special Education (ACRES) established as one of its goals to identify the essential components of effective transition programs in the United States and, thereby to influence teacher preparation programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the skills that the State Directors of Special Education (SDSE) list as necessary competencies required in their states for personnel in special education transition programs. Recognizing that some states may not have fully developed, articulated, and mandated the competencies they believe are necessary, the SDSE were additionally asked to report what knowledge and skills they felt should be required for transition program personnel. Responses indicate a consistency of several predictable required skills, but over half of the SDSE support a core of twelve common competencies that should be built into personnel training programs. This core represents a knowledge base that is defined more broadly than the current traditional special educational training programs. Implications for training are discussed.

Ethical Issues in General and Special Education Teacher Preparation: An Interface with Rural Education

2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 43-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy M. Sileo ◽  
Thomas W. Sileo ◽  
Thomas B. Pierce
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Rural Education ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Education Teacher

Teacher education may be the most important variable to ensure consideration of ethical issues in public schools. However, many teacher preparation programs may not equip teachers with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to make moral judgments and decisions necessary to provide high quality education for all students. This article addresses ethical issues and practices that impact teacher education, their interface with rural education, and results of a national research study that assesses extent to which and how preservice teacher preparation programs attend to ethical issues. Survey results indicate that teaching about ethical and professional practices is important to teacher preparation, and yet, receives little emphasis in most programs. Key Words: Educational Equity, Ethics, Morality, Rural Education, Special Education, Teacher Preparation, and Values

Alternative Teacher Preparation Programs: Examination Through a Marketing Lens

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-150
Author(s):  
Janet Chamberlin-Kim ◽  
Jennifer Tarnay ◽  
Jenny C. Wells
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Teacher Shortage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Product Price ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Alternative Teacher Preparation ◽  
Place Promotion

This investigation used the 7 P’s Service Marketing Mix (i.e., product, price, place, promotion, people, physical evidence, and processes) to review development and recruitment strategies of special education alternative teacher preparation programs. Articles published between 1997 and 2018 were reviewed to identify alternative teacher preparation programs developed to tackle the chronic teacher shortage in special education across the United States. A total of 17 articles met the inclusion criteria, 10 of which specifically targeted rural areas. Results indicated people (94%), place (94%), and product (88%) were most consistently addressed in program design. However, price (59%) and promotion (41%) were addressed least. Overall, 1,419 teacher candidates were recruited into the 17 special education alternative teacher preparation programs, with 460 recruited from rural areas.

Beyond Damage-Centered Teacher Education: Humanizing Pedagogy for Teacher Educators and Preservice Teachers

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Dorinda J. Carter Andrews ◽  
Tashal Brown ◽  
Bernadette M. Castillo ◽  
Davena Jackson ◽  
Vivek Vellanki
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Humanizing Pedagogy

Background/Context In our best efforts to increase preservice teachers’ critical consciousness regarding the historical and contemporary inequities in the P–12 educational system and equip them to embody pedagogies and practices that counter those inequities, teacher educators often provide curricular and field experiences that reinforce the deficit mindsets that students bring to the teacher education classroom. For many social justice-oriented teacher educators, our best intentions to create humanizing experiences for future teachers can have harmful results that negatively impact preservice teachers’ ability to successfully teach culturally diverse students in a multitude of learning contexts. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study In this article, we propose a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education that is informed by our experiences as K–12 teachers and teacher educators in a university-based teacher preparation program. We focus on the general questions, How can university-based teacher preparation programs embody and enact a humanizing pedagogy? and What role can curriculum play in advancing a humanizing pedagogy in university-based teacher preparation programs? Research Design In this conceptual article, we theorize a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education and propose a process of becoming asset-, equity-, and social justice-oriented teachers. This humanizing pedagogy represents a strengths-based approach to teaching and learning in the teacher preparation classroom. Conclusions/Recommendations We propose core tenets of a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education that represent an individual and collective effort toward critical consciousness for preservice teachers and also for teacher educators. If university-based teacher education programs are committed to cultivating the development of asset-, equity-, and social justice-oriented preservice teachers, the commitments to critical self-reflection, resisting binaries, and enacting ontological and epistemological plurality need to be foundational to program structure, curricula alignment, and instructional practice.

Bending or Breaking: Appropriating edTPA Policy in Special Education Teacher Education

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Bartlett ◽  
Amy Otis-Wilborn ◽  
Lacey Peters
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Education Teacher ◽  
State Education

The Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) has been widely adopted in schools of higher education across the United States. Different state education departments have set policies, to varying degrees, that determine the outcomes for passing the edTPA, with some requiring a passing score to obtain licensure. As a result of the high-stakes nature of the edTPA, teacher education programs are taking steps to support teacher candidates as they navigate this process. The adoption of edTPA, however, is not without obstacles and has become complicated in the process of implementation. The purpose of this study is to report on a policy analysis of the edTPA in special education using a Critical Practice Approach. Researchers sought to find answers to the following questions: (a) What were the negotiations, decisions, and actions taken by special education teacher education programs in their efforts to appropriate the edTPA policy? and (b) To what extent did the appropriation process foster or empower “participation agency in the democratic production of policy?” Data were collected through in-depth phenomenological interviews with special education teacher educators in three different institutions. Findings suggest that teacher educators at each institution engaged in three general types of appropriation activities that were central to their efforts; embedding, co-opting, and reifying. This critical practical policy analysis helped to identify ways in which the edTPA policy appropriation process was and was not democratic and participatory; a process that recognizes contributions, expertise, and experience of local appropriators as well as factors that characterize the local context.

The Struggle to Professionalize Teaching: Examining edTPA as a Professionalization and Deprofessionalization Tool

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (9) ◽  
pp. 57-86
Author(s):  
Craig De Voto ◽  
Jessica J. Gottlieb
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Organizational Contexts ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Embedded Case Study

Background/Context: In the United States, strengthening the professionalization of teaching and teacher education has received extensive attention. Notably, the educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) has gained traction. Developed by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, & Equity (SCALE) in 2009, edTPA requires teacher candidates to videotape their teaching and reflect via three different tasks: planning, instructing, and assessing. More than one third (900+) of all teacher preparation programs (TPPs) across 41 states are now using edTPA, making it the most widely used licensure assessment in the field. Objective: In this study, we examine differences in how stakeholders (i.e., administrators, faculty, and staff) within and across TPPs are making sense of edTPA. We then examine why such differences in edTPA sensemaking have transpired, including varying policy designs, organizational contexts, and individual attitudes/values. Finally, we illustrate how these differences reflect a deeper historical dilemma in teacher education between those supporting professionalism (i.e., program-specific attitudes/beliefs) and those supporting the professionalization of teaching (i.e., structural or systemic characteristics across programs). Participants: Through purposive and snowball sampling, we interviewed 69 stakeholders across eight TPPs in two states, Illinois and Iowa. These stakeholders were interviewed between 2015 and 2018, approximately 1 year after their TPP adopted edTPA (via mandate or voluntarily). Research Design: We employed a multiple embedded case study design. The first set of cases were the two states selected (Illinois and Iowa) because their policy designs differed (mandated vs. voluntary). The second set of cases were the eight TPPs selected. One-hour interviews were conducted with each of the 69 stakeholders across these case TPPs. Using a sensemaking conceptual framework, instrumental case analysis was then used to examine how stakeholders made sense of edTPA and why. Findings/Results: We found diverse perspectives across our case TPPs as to how stakeholders viewed and implemented edTPA—as either a professionalization or a deprofessionalization tool. Those espousing a view of professionalization supported the assessment as a means to strengthen the profession’s perceived legitimacy and quality, whereas those espousing a view of deprofessionalization believed that it is detrimental in these regards. We argue that this divergence reflects enduring disagreement concerning the mechanisms that define “good” teaching and how best to measure it. Conclusions: We found that structural changes, such as edTPA adoption, may move a field toward being more or less professionalized, but those changes do not guarantee alignment or agreement among the professionals within that workforce. Improving this dilemma within teacher education therefore begins with coming to some reasonable consensus on how best to balance professionalization and professionalism.

Blended Learning in Teacher Education

2018 ◽  
pp. 1490-1511
Author(s):  
Jackie HeeYoung Kim ◽  
Danilo M. Baylen ◽  
Amy Leh ◽  
Lijia Lin
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Reflective Practitioners ◽  
Problem Solvers

This chapter acknowledges that there is sparse literature to consult about the pedagogical and empirical foundations of blended learning in teacher preparation programs because this field is in its infancy. This chapter will first define blended learning, identify the challenges in teacher preparation programs and indicate how blended-learning approaches will assist teacher educators to meet long-standing and newly emerged challenges, and help future teachers to be reflective practitioners, better problem-solvers, and critical thinkers. This chapter also will discuss pedagogical values of blended learning and factors affecting blended learning course designs, and then showcase best practices using blended learning in order to show the effectiveness of blended learning approaches in teacher education. Lastly, this chapter will discuss considerations when blending teacher education courses.

The Integration of Web2Quest Technology into Multicultural Curriculum in Teacher Education

2013 ◽  
pp. 46-60
Author(s):  
Li-Mei Grace Lin ◽  
Chris L. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
The United States ◽  
Multicultural Competency ◽  
Multicultural Curriculum ◽  
Global Citizens ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Past Experiences

The study examines the attitudes and past experiences of pre-service teachers and teacher educators in Taiwan and the U.S. regarding the use of Web2Quests to promote multicultural education. The demographics in many countries are increasingly changing, especially regarding the growth of students from diverse backgrounds. In all classrooms, teachers need to have high levels of multicultural competency to create welcoming and equitable learning environments. However, multicultural education in the curriculum of many teacher education programs is still limited. Technology is an extremely useful tool that can enhance learning experiences for both teachers and students. Technology can be implemented to foster multicultural education in interesting and engaging ways. The study shows that the majority (about 93%) of the pre-service teachers and teacher educators who responded to the survey both in Taiwan and the United States enjoyed the Web2Quest strategy and viewed it to be effective in promoting higher-level thinking and social constructivist activities. Participants suggested that professional development is needed to help teachers design effective WebQuests, especially using the new version of WebQuests which utilizes Web 2.0 technologies. This professional development may have a significant impact when preparing teachers and, ultimately, students to be productive global citizens.

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