scholarly journals The Inclusive Education: Policy Issues and Challenges. The Rights in the Amended Special Edu- cation Law in Israel (1988)

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-23
Author(s):  
L. Shaked
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Special Education Law ◽  
Education Law ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Restrictive Environment

This paper discusses the effects of Special Education law (1918) in Israel and amendments followed in 2002; 2018 on school placement policy and attitudes toward inclusion. The critics on differential budget to different setting that the budget doesn’t support the least restrictive environment concept and inequality in the allocation of resources among students in special education and students integrated in the regular education lead to the amendment nr.11 of Special Education law. Present paper argues that while state policy makes an ongoing effort to increase access to general edu- cation by innovative legislation, increasing the state funding in order to accommodate and meet the needs of students with disabilities in inclusive education the practices of educational institutions perpetuated exclusion from general education. For regular teachers to feel confident in their ability to teach all students, a change in teacher preparation programs should be implemented. A change in teacher preparation programs still needs a profound reform.

Developing a Theory of Program Vision as Professional Socialization in Special Education Teacher Preparation

2021 ◽  
pp. 088840642110589
Author(s):  
Hannah Morris Mathews
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
General Education ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
Professional Socialization ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Education Teacher ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities

In general education, researchers find candidates’ pre-service experiences are a tool for socialization into the knowledge, norms, and values of the profession. An important aspect of this process is program vision—the collective understanding of teaching put forth by a preparation program. Yet, few investigations in special education examine program vision. Using interviews with candidates across six teacher preparation programs, the author generates theory to understand the role of vision in special education teacher candidates’ professional socialization and how experiences of program vision are associated with their conceptions of their future roles and responsibilities. Candidates’ conception of special educators’ roles reflected three characterizations consistent within, but distinct across programs: Direct Instructor, Supportive Differentiator, and General Responder. Each profile was associated with unique roles and responsibilities for special educators. Findings draw attention to the importance of examining vision as a tool for professional socialization in special education teacher preparation.

What Are High-Leverage Practices for Special Education Teachers and Why Are They Important?

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 331-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
James McLeskey ◽  
Bonnie Billingsley ◽  
Mary T. Brownell ◽  
Lawrence Maheady ◽  
Timothy J. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Initial Attempt ◽  
Preparation Programs

Improving educational outcomes for students with disabilities and others who struggle in school largely depends on teachers who can deliver effective instruction. Although many effective practices have been identified to address the academic and behavioral needs of students who struggle in school, including those with disabilities, these practices are not used extensively in classrooms. This article provides a rationale for and description of major changes that are occurring in teacher preparation programs that are designed to improve the practice of beginning teachers. This is followed by a description of a set of high-leverage practices that was recently approved by the Council for Exceptional Children. These practices represent an initial attempt to delineate a core curriculum for special education teacher preparation to support the changes that are occurring in teacher education.

scholarly journals Increasing Inclusive Education Through a Learning Center Model: A California Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Aja McKee ◽  
Audri Sandoval Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Deep Structure ◽  
Least Restrictive Environment ◽  
Learning Center ◽  
Educational Programming ◽  
Federal Mandate ◽  
Restrictive Environment

Learning center models offer students with disabilities learning experiences in general education classrooms, while retaining support and services from special education personnel. The learning center approach examines existing educational perspectives, practices and structures, surrounding access to general education for students with disabilities. This study used a document analysis, a qualitative data method, to examine how two California school districts developed a learning center model to transform special education programming from segregated special education classrooms and practices to placement and access to general education. The findings inform educational programming for students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment, to comply with the American federal mandate. Findings suggest that the deep structure of educational practices complicated the ease of a change in practices for both general and special educators. However, the community approach of the learning center model, where all teachers assume the educational responsibilities for all students, forced these educators to be flexible, reexamine structures and practices, and challenge the ethos of traditional schooling. 

Agency in Real Time? Situating Teachers’ Efforts toward Inclusion in the Context of Local and Enduring Struggles

2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srikala Naraian
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Student Work ◽  
Work Samples ◽  
Project Data ◽  
Complete Data Analysis ◽  
Local Discourses

Background Teacher preparation for critical special education and inclusive education is premised on the ways in which dominant schooling discourses have unfairly positioned students with disabilities and their families. The hope of such teacher preparation programs is that through careful socialization into anti-oppressive discourses, teacher candidates will develop the capacity to go forth into troubled schooling systems and actively work against practices that perpetuate norms of dis/ability. Fundamental to such conceptualizations of teacher preparation is the presumption of teacher agency as a prerequisite for working toward equity in schools. Departing from conceptions of agency as a stable internal property that can be transported across contexts, I adopt a situated notion of agency to disclose teachers’ activities at the confluence of multiple schooling discourses. I deploy the framework of Holland and Lave to both unravel the local and enduring struggles that inform the discursive contexts in which efforts toward inclusion are made and disclose the cultural forms that emerge from the authoring of educators in the project of inclusion. Research Questions I reviewed the data generated at four different sites from 2006 to 2011 during the implementation of separate studies that I conducted to investigate inclusive practices. Those inquiries broadly examined how schooling/classroom conditions produce (in) equitable opportunities for students with disabilities. For this project, I re-examined the same data to ask the following questions: What are the particular conflicts and struggles that characterize the engagement of school practitioners seeking to implement inclusively oriented practices? Specifically, how do local discourses/conflicts within schools inform the production of specific forms of inclusive practice? Research Design All of the studies were ethnographically oriented and privileged a narrative exploration of participant experiences. Sources of data included participant observations and semistructured interviews. Additional data sources across sites included student work samples, school newsletters, electronic communication with participants, and informal exchanges with students and teachers in the classrooms. Each of the studies that were included in the cross-case analysis within this project was subject to separate and complete data analysis followed by a series of qualitatively written products reflecting the particular questions that guided each study. For this project, data were re-examined inductively with deliberate attention to the framework suggested by Holland and Lave. Conclusions Teacher education discourses that privilege a politics of polarity (inclusion vs. exclusion) may be insufficient to meet the complicated demands of enabling inclusivity in practice. I draw on the inevitable entanglement of diverse commitments within educators’ practices to suggest that inclusion as an act of deferring may be a helpful complement to those efforts. A pedagogy of deferral privileges the pragmatic negotiation with local and widely circulating discourses while upholding long-term commitments such as the disruption of norms of ability.

Practicing Collaboration in Teacher Preparation

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret P. Weiss ◽  
Anthony Pellegrino ◽  
Frederick J. Brigham
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Concept Maps ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Know How ◽  
Special Education Program ◽  
Vital Component

Collaboration among professionals is a vital component for successful inclusion of students with disabilities. In many cases, teacher preparation programs assume that teacher candidates know how to collaborate without explicit instruction or authentic practice and, therefore, omit coursework on collaboration. Alternatively, some programs may require coursework in collaboration but that coursework may exclude candidates from any other programs. In this article, we describe candidate outcomes from a course about collaboration that was taught in two ways: (a) as a co-taught course with faculty and candidates from social studies and special education and (b) as a course in the special education program that included only faculty and candidates in special education. Candidates in both groups constructed pre- and post-course concept maps about collaboration. We conducted both quantitative and qualitative analyses to determine depth, breadth, and complexity of understanding of collaboration as well as growth in these areas. Findings and implications are discussed.

Legal Implications for Accommodating Students With Disabilities in Teacher Preparation Field Placements

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia A. Dieterich ◽  
Paula E. Chan ◽  
Anne E. Price
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Recent Case ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Federal Legislation ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Preparation Programs

The goal of Special Education is to help individuals with disabilities transition to meaningful adult roles. When students with disabilities pursue education majors, Special Education Faculty must balance their desire to support college students with disabilities, while maintaining the rigor of their academic programs. To gain a better understanding of how to support students with disabilities in teacher preparation programs, faculty must have a clear understanding of federal legislation and recent case law related to students with disabilities in professional programs in higher education. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the legal precedent for working with students with disabilities in teacher preparation programs. In this study, the authors review federal legislation for students with disabilities in higher education, present recent case law related to accommodating students with disabilities in college training programs with field components, and provide suggestions for faculty working with students with disabilities.

High Leverage Practices in Elementary Inclusive Education

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence J. Maheady ◽  
Angela L. Patti
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
General Education ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Grade Levels ◽  
School Day ◽  
Core Practices ◽  
Initial Work

Teacher preparation programs are undergoing a shift from knowledge-based to practice-based, meaning the emphasis is on what teacher candidates can do, rather than what they know. In light of this movement, high leverage practices (HLPs)—a set of core practices that educational experts agree all teachers should be able to do upon entering the teaching field—have been developed in several different educational areas (e.g., general education and special education). As experts develop sets of HLPs, they identify practices that (a) are researched based, (b) are often used by teachers during the school day, (c) can be applied across grade levels and subject areas, (d) are fundamental to student learning, and (e) can be taught, practiced, and developed to some degree of fluency by teachers entering the profession. The idea is that these practices can be used as a core curriculum for teacher preparation programs. While initial work with HLPs is promising, additional questions must be answered before moving forward. Institutions of higher education that choose to use HLPs to frame their teacher preparation programs need to determine (a) which HLPs to use, (b) how to integrate HLPs into the program, (c) how to assess teacher candidate fluency with HLPs, and (d) how to evaluate the effects of HLPs on P–12 students. As these questions are answered, further light can be shed on what truly makes a practice worthy of the designation “high leverage.”

Special Education Teacher Preparation for Family–Professional Partnerships: Results From a National Survey of Teacher Educators

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 320-337
Author(s):  
Kathleen B. Kyzar ◽  
Tracy Gershwin Mueller ◽  
Grace L. Francis ◽  
Shana J. Haines
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Education Teacher

Family–professional partnerships (FPPs) are an important, federally mandated part of the American education system that benefit all students, but especially students with disabilities. Although special education teacher preparation programs offer a viable and sustainable way to enhance FPPs, little is known about the degree to which these programs address FPPs within their curricula. The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which special education teacher preparation programs address FPPs. A total of 113 special education faculty members across 52 institutions responded to a national online survey addressing this topic. Results indicated (a) a disconnect in the value and implementation of FPP-related knowledge and skills at the program and individual faculty levels and (b) patterns of inconsistent FPP-related content coverage across undergraduate and graduate offerings as well as across FPP-specific and non-FPP-specific coursework. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Explaining the Decline in Special Education Teacher Employment From 2005 to 2012

2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Dewey ◽  
Paul T. Sindelar ◽  
Elizabeth Bettini ◽  
Erling E. Boe ◽  
Michael S. Rosenberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Public Law ◽  
General Educators ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Disability Prevalence ◽  
Constituent Elements

Demand for special education teachers grew continuously from the passage of Public Law 94-142 in 1975 through 2005, when this trend reversed. From 2005 to 2012, the number of special education teachers employed by U.S. schools declined by >17%. The primary purpose of this investigation was to determine factors that contributed to this decline. We parsed change in number of special education teachers employed into four constituent elements and found that these recent reductions were fueled by decreases in disability prevalence and the relative ratio of teachers to students in special versus general education, which favored the latter. These changes have important implications for teacher preparation programs’ efforts to adequately prepare special and general educators and for policies designed to improve teacher quality.

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